January — March 1SS5.] 



FSrCHE. 



■>w, 



PSYCHIi:. 



CAMBRIDGE, MASS., JAN.-MAR. 18S5. 



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PERMANENT MOUNTING OF 

 TRACHEAE OF INSECTS. 



I liave succeeded in a very simple wav in 

 mounting permanently the tracheal system 

 of insects. I dissect out the soft parts and 

 .spread them on a glass slide of the usual 

 size; let them dry perfectly; then with pen- 

 cil-brush give them a good coating of collo- 

 dion, after which I melt a little hard, pure 

 balsam in a test tube and put it on the object 

 with a cover glass applied at once. This is, 

 so far as I know, a new method, It is re- 

 markable for its results. The intestines, the 

 ganglia, and the brain are perfectly magnifi- 

 cent. The intestine makes thus one of the 

 most beautiful objects for dark-ground illumi- 

 nation. The brain shows the most ahim- 

 dant ramifications of the trachea, especially 

 in tlie immense parallel branches in the rods 

 (if the eyes. The ganglia can be floated on 

 a cover glass, dried, and mounted in this 

 way. The entire process is simple and easy, 

 and gives the most satisfactory results. 

 There are many points of histological in- 

 terest in the brain which are thus demon- 

 strated. 



Lviin, Mass. F. T. Hazlexuooii. 



PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOlilCAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



19 June 1SS3. — . . . Prof. E. Ray Lankester. 

 F". R. S., read a memoir on the muscular 

 and endoskeletal systems of Limulus and 

 Scorfio. . . . These investigations seemed to 

 confirm Prof. Lankester's previously ex- 

 pressed views as to the near affinity of these 

 two forms, hitherto usually referred to differ- 

 ent classes of the animal kingdom, and to 

 justify the association of Limii/us with tlie- 

 arachnida. 



18 Dec. 18S3.— . . . Dr. F. Leuthner read 

 an abstract of a memoir which he had pre- 

 pared on the odoiitolabiiii, a subfamily of the 

 coleopterous family liicanidae. remarkable 

 for the polymorphism of the males, while the 

 females remained very similar. The males 

 were stated to exhibit four very distinct 

 phases of the development in their mandibles, 

 which the author proposed to term "prio- 

 dont," '"amphiodont." "mesodont." and "telo- 

 dont." These forms were strongly marked 

 in some species, but in others w-ere connected 

 by insensible gradations, and had been treated 

 by the earlier authors as distinct species. 

 The second part of the memoir contained a 

 monograph of the three known genera which 

 constitute the group odotttolabtni. . . . Mr. J. 

 Wood-Mason, F.Z.S., read a paper on tlie 

 embiidae, a little-known family of insects, 

 on the structure and habits of which he had 

 succeeded in making some investigations 

 during his recent residence in India. He 

 came to the conclusion that the embiidac un- 

 doubtedly belong to the true orthoptera, and 

 are one of the lowest terms of a series formed 

 by the familiar acvidiodea. lociistidac. grylli- 

 dac, and fthasmatidae. 



I April 1S84. — ...Mr. F. D. Godman. 

 F.R.S., read a paper containing an account 

 of the lepidoptera collected by the late Mr. 

 W. A. Forbes on the banks of the Lower 

 Niger, the rhopalocera being described by 

 Messrs. F. D. Godman and O. Salvin. and 

 the heterocera by Mr. H. Druce. The species 



