MEMORANDA. 301 



diameter and one and a half deep, nested for stowage. Muslin 

 of different degrees of fineness is strained over one opening of 

 the hoop, and a screw is attached by its head to the rim. The 

 net is thus portable, and is screwed into a hole in the end of a 

 walking-stick, or what is better a fishing-rod. I find that for 

 most purposes the fabric called bobbinet answers very well, and 

 catches creatures much smaller than its own meshes, while the 

 free escape of water through the openings prevents their being 

 washed out, as they frequently are in withdrawing the net from 

 the surface. If the stick have a spike at the other end it may 

 be stuck in the ground, and those animals that are visible to the 

 naked eye leisurely picked out, with a small thin spoon or 

 palette-knife, and transferred to bottles, care being taken that 

 the more voracious ones be separated from their prey ; while the 

 thick residuum, containing infusoria, &c., may bo ladled up or 

 strained off into its appropriate vessel. On arriving home the 

 contents of the bottles are poured into one of the finer nets, 

 which is placed in a saucer of water. The drafting net is then 

 lifted up out of the water, and a final classification may be made. 

 To catch individual creatures that are too large for a fishino-- 

 tube, a small spoon-net, made of slips of thin metal, bent into 

 the form of a spoon, with a large hole punched out of the bowl, 

 and muslin cemented to the rim, will be found convenient. 

 This form of net is free from the inconvenience of loose parts 

 of material, in which choice specimens may be confused and 

 lost. 



Fis. 3. 



Animalcule Net. 



" Before concluding this paper, I may mention a very useful 

 cement, for fine work, which was communicated to me by my 

 friend Mr. Capewell, of Ballan. Canada balsam is heated and 

 evaporated to dryness, and the residual resin dissolved in ether. 

 This cement dries as rapidly as collodion, is perfectly limpid, 

 and does not coagulate. 



" I hope soon to submit to the Institute a section-cutting 

 machine, which I am constructing on a plan different to any 

 I have yet met with, and presenting, as I fancy, some con- 

 veniences. I have here some sections cut with it in its present 

 state, but it is not yet mounted." 



