INSTITUTE NOTES. 



The paper in this issue by Mr. Charles F. Rousselet, on 

 the narcotization and preservation of delicate organisms, is 

 most valuable. Some samples of his method, now in the pos- 

 session of Mr. Edward Potts, of Media, show the specimens 

 preserved with the finest tentacles and tendrils extended in 

 life-like posture. Indeed, so natural are they that it seems 

 scarcely possible to believe the organisms are dead. The 

 directions given by Mr. Rousselet are so complete that other 

 workers in this line may expect equal success. 



Mr. Edward Potts, of Media, whose article on Fresh 

 Water Jelly Fish, published in the Proceedings of Janu- 

 ary, 1907 (Volume II, Number 2), will be remembered bj^ 

 our readers, has been busily engaged during the past summer 

 in pursuing further his studies in this branch of science. In 

 a recent lot of material he has had the fortune to find a speci- 

 men of three headed Hydra. The three headed form is by 

 no means a common one, the usual Hydra having only two 

 branches. Mr. Potts is studying carefully the process of 

 'digestion in this form of the organism and in the next issue 

 of the Proceedings it is hoped the results of his observations 

 will be published. It is from the Hydra that the asexual 

 larval form of organism, first observed by Mr. Potts, develops 

 and he is hoping to again witness this occurrence. 



A subject worth}' of note in the Fall issue of the Pro- 

 ceedings is the scant chestnut crop in this section this year. 

 It may be the phenomenally cool Summer has been the cause 

 of this. On the other hand this scarcity may be onh' an 

 instance of the more or less regular alternation of periods of 

 plenty and of scarcity often observed in plant life. One of 

 the Institute members, in this connection suggests that next 

 year's crop of chestnuts will contain comparatively few 

 chestnut worms. Whv ? 



