52 
between two female gophers. The punishment given by the larger one 
caused the death of the smaller one. 
In- evidence that there is a necessary transpiration through the under 
shell or plastron a gopher will die if that part of the body is vanished. 
The gopher is eaten and much esteemed as food by the colored people. 
It is popularly supposed to contain portions of all kinds of meat and fish 
under its different segments. My experience is that it is more palatable 
than any other testudo, and it contains but one kind of meat, and that 
tough. 
I must be pardoned for not referring to the literature of my subject. 
It is because I have found almost nothing, and that brief and incomplete 
in ‘“‘Wood’s Natural History,’ and I write this far from libraries and 
reference books. 
Orlando, Florida, December 23, 1899. 
LipraRies ©F MicroscopicaL SLIDES. 
By A. J. BIGNEY. 
Since the earliest times it has been the custom of educated people to 
have libraries. No line of thought has received more attention in the 
past few years than the biological sciences. Probably the world has re- 
ceived more physical good from such work than from any other source. 
What the next generation will bring forth can hardly be imagined. Every 
one who owns a microscope is adding a little to the world’s stock of knowl- 
edge in biology. Not only does such a worker need books, but he should 
make another kind of library, a collection of slides. To the teacher in 
biology this is almost a necessity. To make the slides of greatest use 
they should be classified in some systematic way. It has been my experi- 
ence and observation, in small as well as large colleges and universities, 
that the slides are packed away without any or very little system, and 
the teacher must depend upon his memory in finding them. This causes 
very much annoyance and much loss of time. Last fall I classified my 
slides in a simple way and it has been of so much value to me that I feel 
