The Microscope. 59 



consisting of about a dozen ferrules of graduated sizes, fitting 

 snugly one inside the other. Take any two which fit well 

 together and cement the smaller one, large end down, to the 

 center of an ordinary glass slide. Cement to the top of the 

 ferrule one of the thickest cover-glasses you have that fits it. 

 Now take another cover-glass which fits inside the larger fer- 

 rule, and cement it to the inside at the top. The box is now 

 complete, and all that remains to be done is to slip the larger 

 ferrule over the other. Mica can be used instead of the cover- 

 glasses, if desired. 



CHEAP PUNCHES FOR SHEET WAX. 



BY JAMES E. WHITNEY, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



As wax remains one of the best materials for building up 

 the walls of cells, it may be of interest to describe a plan by 

 which any worker can make for himself a series of punches 

 ranging in size from one-fourth inch up to one inch, at an entire 

 expense of about ten cents for the set of a dozen punches. 



Get a set of brass ferrules, such as described in the account 

 of the life-box, and with a round file bevel the large end to a 

 cutting edge, which is easily done, and you will then have a set 

 of punches of convenient size adapted to making wax rings of 

 sizes corresponding to all the ordinary sizes of cover-glasses. 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS, ANSWERS AND SUGGES- 

 TIONS. 



1. What is the best method of imbedding leaves and plant 

 stems in the well of the microtome ? 



A. L. Woodward, Syracuse. 



I have not had the best success by the use of any "medium" which 

 I have attempted, nor in the use of a microtome with a well. 



I use soft cork or the pith of cornstalk or elder, or any other ma- 

 terial that will yield to the pressure of the stem or leaf; shaping the 

 materials as nearly as may be to the form of the stem or leaf to be cut. 



Vegetable stems or leaves should be cut immediately after they 

 are broken from the plant. To imbed them they must be more or less 

 dried out. In drying they shrink; shrinking compresses the stem, 



