Monthly Mic ical 
48 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. Journal, July | 1870, 
to have closely resembled, if it was not identical with, one which Mr. 
Binney figured * and referred to as resembling the Aphyllostachys jugle- 
riana of Géeppert. Mr. Binney describes his strobilus as being about 
half an inch in length, and consisting of eight or nine crown-shaped 
masses or joints, each of which, calculating the proportions indicated 
by Mr. Binney’s figures, must have been about the +'; of an inch in 
length, and from ;%, to } in transverse diameter. Mr. Butterworth’s 
strobilus has considerably exceeded these dimensions. The specimen 
is somewhat compressed laterally ; hence its transverse section presents 
an oval figure. The length of each joint, or internode, supporting 
one verticil of sporangia is about + inch, its greater diameter being 
xg, and its lesser one 4°; of an inch. Two of the three internodes had 
been sliced into sections before Professor Williamson saw the speci- . 
men; but the third, which fortunately happened to be the lowest one 
of the three, was preserved intact. Externally, each internode of the 
strobilus has exhibited a series of strongly-marked, rounded, longi- 
tudinal ridges and furrows, the former being apparently about twenty 
in number, though, owing to the fragment being somewhat injured on 
one side, he could not count them with exactness. These are invested 
by numerous closely-lapping, thin, membranous, vertical bracts. Hach 
of these bracts appears to have occupied one of the furrows between 
the ridges, its margins having overlapped, or been in contact with, 
those of its nearest neighbours along the line of each ridge; but this 
point also was not very clear, owing to the exceeding thinness of the 
bracts and the closeness with which they were in mutual contact. 
The upper part of the fragment having been cut off in making a trans- 
verse section, he could not decide whether these bracts terminated 
with the upper edge of their own internode, or whether their tips 
were prolonged over the joint above. 
NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 
A New Preserving Fluid, which has been found useful for anato- 
mical preparation, has been described by M. Méhu, of the French 
Necker Hospital, and is worth a trial by some of our readers. It only 
contains a small proportion of alcohol, and hence does not cause any 
considerable contraction of soft textures, which with him have chiefly 
been portions of the mucous membrane of the bladder, prostate, &e. 
It contains arsenious acid, which preserves them from decomposition, 
and the development of cryptogamic vegetation is prevented by the 
addition of a small quantity of crystallized carbolic acid. The formula 
is—Arsenious acid, 20 parts; crystallized carbolie acid, 10 parts; 
alcohol, 300 parts; distilled water, 700 parts. The preparation of 
this fluid has led him to notice the great solubility of arsenious acid 
in alcohol. 
* ‘Observations on the Structure of Fossil Plants found in the Carboniferous 
Strata. By EH. W. Binney, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S. Part. I. Calamites and Cala- 
modendron ’ (Paleontographical Society, 1868), Plate vi., fig. i. 
