378 The Microscope. 



important. A mixture of equal parts of glycerine and of 

 alcohol will give by far the most satisfactory result. — Dr. W. 

 McMurtrie. 



Oil of anise. — This oil freezes at 50° F., and then makes a 

 most beautiful polariscope object. Thaw the oil, place a drop 

 on a glass slide and allow it to freeze, which it soon does, then 

 view it under a thin glass cover without selenite. As soon as 

 the oil begins to melt again, lovely forms of the brightest and 

 most varied colors will be seen in motion in the field, their 

 colors ever changing as their position changes with respect to 

 the plane of polarisation — Scientific Enquirer. 



To OBTAIN MICROSCOPIC TUNGi IN THE WINTER. — Mr. A. P. Mor- 

 gan says, in the Botanical Gazette, that the winter season can 

 not usually be considered very favorable to the growth of fungi, 

 nevertheless, during warm and mild rainy spells many kinds 

 will be found growing. Aside from the woody and leathery 

 forms which are perennial or remain alive till spring, he has 

 noted in the month of January some twenty-five or thirty 

 species. Little or nothing is to be found coming up out of the 

 ground, but ou old trunks there are occasionally tufts, and 

 about the roots or upon the erect, dead trunks of willows or 

 sometimes of the sugar maple maj' be seen the yellow tufts of 

 agaricus velutipes. An old dead tree in the woods is always a 

 fertile subject. Look along it and underneath it. Pull off its 

 bark, examine the inside and the wood next it. During the 

 winter season clefts in the wood are also a fertile field for the 

 studying of forms. Late in the Autumn and continuing through 

 the Winter until Spring, colonies are to be found on the under- 

 sides of old, much decayed oak chunks, nestling in the holes and 

 crevices in total darkness. 



To PREPARE LIGNITE. — Mr. F. H. Knowlton does this by mace- 

 rating slices for a week in carbonate of potash to render them 

 transparent. Thin sections are then cut with a razor, heated 

 in a watch glass until they turn yellow, when they are to be 

 dropped into cold water and afterward mounted in glycerine. 



