296 MEMORANDA. 
from the vesicle, stated by Lachmann to have been observed 
by him; I believe that what he thought to be processes or 
branches of the vesicle were merely occasional interpositions 
of the cilia of the disc between the object and the microscope ; I 
believe that the delusion sometimes assumes an almost con- 
vincing aspect, not of two distinct processes, as Lachmann has 
observed, but of branches to and from the vesicle, indefinite in 
their position and number. Thus, we see how easy it is to 
account for the fallacy into which Lachmann and most other 
naturalists have fallen. I acknowledge that there is a vesicle of 
unknown use in the Vorticellide; I deny the existence of a 
** contractile vesicle,” acting as a heart. I acknowledge the 
presence of cilia; I deny that of vesicular branches or vessels. 
Hence I infer that the statement that there is a circulatory 
apparatus in the Vorticellide is without foundation, and may 
only be regarded as a picture painted by a vivid imagination, 
or as an hypothesis promulgated for a selfish purpose. I in- 
vite the investigation of naturalists who have not as yet made 
themselves practically acquainted with these animals; and at 
a future period, when, having become thorough masters of this 
department of zoological science, I would ask them to give me 
the credit of, and to support, the views I have in this paper 
expressed.— WiLL1AM HanpsrL GRIFFITHS. 
Mr. Goddard’s Mounting Table seems liable to the objection 
that there is no provision for regulating the temperature so 
as to prevent it rising to the boiling-point of balsam. I 
have for a long time used a water bath of tin or zinc 
14 by 31 by 34 inches with a ledge running round the top 
a 
i a 
to prevent the slides slipping. If a cover of cardboard be 
placed on this to keep off the dust, and the orifice through 
which the water is introduced left open, the apparatus with 
the slides on it may be left to itself for any reasonable time 
over any source of heat. An hour or two generally suffices 
to harden the balsam, and the air-bubbles (if any) disappear. 
—T, G. Sroxns, Aughnacloy. 
