The Microscope. 



331 



a hard winter lost no plumpness nor color. To any one who 

 objects that this discussion is confined to spiders as prey, it 

 can only be answered that the reason is that I have observation 

 solely of the species of wasps which prefer caterpillars as food. 

 The contents of eleven cells of Pelopseus are now under my 

 observation, but there is no promise of the return to life of any 

 spider, though the nest is but three weeks old. Probably the 

 truth is something like this : that in case of large prey as com- 

 pared with the si;.e of the wasp, the sting at first only paralyzes 

 the victim. Paralysis may be partial to full, and goes on in 

 many instances, perhaps in the majority, to death. The theory 

 of antisepsis relieves us certainly from the difficulty of believ- 

 ing that the wasp is so unerring a surgeon as to pierce the 

 ganglion in its prey with accuracy, even though struggling. If 

 this article deals with inference rather than absolute proof, it is 

 because the facts are such as to make difficult a conclusive proof 

 of any view. But it is not mere fancy to ask : Did the wasps 

 anticipate the discovery of antisepsis ? 



CULTURE-TUBE HOLDER. 



J. EDWARD LINE, F. R. M. S. 



T IS customary in bacteriological work, whether in the larger 

 laboratories or those characterized by the individual owners 

 as "dens," to stack culture tubes in tumblers, goblets, beakers. 



I 



etc., the bottom of the vessel being lined with cotton as a pre- 

 cautionary measure against breakage. In the examination of 



