PROGRESS OP MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 137 



Bemarlcs on Triceratium fimhriatmn. — Dr. A. Mead Edwards says 

 that in tlie number of the ' Lens ' for Ajn-il, 1872, vol, i., page 100, is 

 a paper by Dr. Woodward, on the double markings of Triceratium, 

 wherein he figures two valves, one whole, the other broken, as, both of 

 them, belonging to Triceratium fimbriatum. First, as to the sj^ecies. 

 It was founded on what is now generally considered very insufficient 

 grounds by Dr. G. C. Wallich, in 1858,* and Ealfs f has ranked it 

 under the older name of T. favus. " For my part, although I have 

 never seen Dr. Wallich's original specimens, I must say I think it 

 cannot be separated from that species. MoUer in his Typen-Platte 

 has chosen to retain the name, attaching it to a four-sided form, 

 and giving Brightwell as the founder. I do not wish to be too 

 severe on Mr. Moller, who has given us such beautiful specimens 

 of his mechanical skill, but I have known of more than one be- 

 ginner at the diatoms led astray by errors which have crept into his 

 slides. The form he names T. jimTjriatum cannot be, with justice, 

 separated specifically from T. favus, Ehr., as Dr. Woodward's plate 

 shows plainly. The finer set of markings can be shown in every valve 

 of T. favus which has not been too long acted upon by chemicals. As 

 to the other specimen figured in the plate, and which is in the cabinet 

 of Dr. Johnston, I have seen and examined it critically. Dr. Johnston 

 lent me the specimen in 1866, and I took several photographs of it. I 

 was particularly interested in it as it came from the Moron earth, and 

 I had found the same species some time before in the Monterey deposit, 

 but with six sides. About the same time Mr. C. G. Bush, of Boston, 

 found a three-sided form of the same in the Monterey material, and 

 sent it to me for photographing. I obtained one or two pretty good 

 negatives of it, and sent it back to him. Soon after I was sorry to hear 

 that the balsam had contracted, drawing the cover down and breaking 

 the diatom. I have never been able to find another three-sided form 

 of this, as I consider it, distinct species. I also lost my six-sided 

 form, and for awhile was in despair. Thereafter, however, I found 

 in the Monterey material a beautiful and perfect six-sided valve, be- 

 sides several fragments. The group including Dr. Johnston's, Mr. 

 Bush's, and my specimens, I consider deserves to rank as a separate 

 species, and I have provisionally, in the manuscript of my report on 

 the specimens collected by the California State Survey, called it 

 Triceratium ponderosum. Therefore, I would ask as a favour of diato- 

 mists, that, until my said report sees the light, when I will give my 

 reasons for so ranking these forms, they be called by the name I 

 have proposed for them." 



Distinguishing Fibres in 3Iixed Goods by the 3Iicroscope. — Mr. 

 Charles Stodder has the following in a number of the 'Scientific 

 American,' published some time since. He says, in answer to an 

 editorial inquiry, " Unquestionably the microscope is the best means 

 of accomx)lishing the purpose of your correspondent; it is the sim- 

 plest, quickest, easiest, and surest. All and each of the fibres named 



* ' Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,' vi., page 242. 

 t 'Prit. Infus.,' 1861, page Sof). 



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