316 The Microscope. 



to the bottom of the bottle and out through the hole in the side, 

 a constant change being thus brought^ about. I generally allow 

 the apparatus to do its work at night. — John W. A/orris. 



Cheap wooden forceps. — A convenient forceps for micro- 

 scopical use may readily be made from the ordinary wooden 

 toothpicks, purchasable for a few cents per thousand. For this 

 purpose select three smooth picks. Cut off about one inch from 

 the e::d of one and throw the remainder of the pick away. Dip 

 the ends of the others in liquid glue of any sort, to the depth of 

 an inch, place the short piece upon the glued portion of one 

 pick, making the thin ends coincide, and then place the glued 

 end of the other pick upon the short i)iece, and around the 

 whole wrap a thread or bit of thin brass wire (such as is used in 

 needle-work, carrying the wrapping up to the inner end of the 

 dividing piece. These forceps are useful in many ways, but 

 especially so in lifting cover-glasses from acid-bleaching solu- 

 tions, etc. A pair can be made in less than a minute. — National 

 Druggist. 



Starch in chlorophyll*. — It is very easy to prove the exist- 

 ence of starch in chlorophj^ll. Let the green color be destroyed 

 by immersion in alcohol, or by any other bleaching process ; 

 then soak the specimen for a few moments in potassium hydrate 

 to destroy the protoplasm. Testing with iodine, the chlorophyll 

 grains immediately assume the characteristic blue tint of starch, 

 especially in the guardian cells of the stomata or breathing 

 pores. Such a neat experiment, having so much bearing on the 

 question of assimilation, should be performed by every botanist 

 interested in vegetable physiology. 



A method of killing Amoeba. t — In order to cause these 

 organisms to become comparatively quiet. Brass recommends 

 feeding them with pulverized organic matter ; they are then 

 very slowly killed on the slide by the use of the following solu- 

 tion, while under observation beneath the cover glass: Chromic 

 acid, 1 part ; platinum chloride, 1 part ; acetic acid, 1 part ; 

 water, 400 to 1,000 parts. 



*J. M. C, in Bot. Gaz. 

 tRep. Fish Com., '82. 



