ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 235 



drying and fixation in alcohol they were stained with Giemsa's modifica- 

 tion of the Romanowsky-Nocht stain. The best results were obtained 

 by leaving the films overnight in a mixture of an aqueous solution of 

 eosin and azur ii. (10 parts of a solution of 1 grm. eosin B.A. in 

 1000 c.cm. water and 1 part of a solution of - 8 grm. azur ii. (Griibler) 

 in 1000 c.cm. water.) 



After staining, the coverslips were washed in tap water, then dipped 

 in alcohol, washed again in water, dried, and mounted in cedar-wood oil. 

 A second method was to cut up the tubules in a very small drop of filtered 

 egg-white and fix with osmic acid vapour, or with a mixture of boiling 

 sublimate and alcohol in the proportion of 2 to 1. After osmic the 

 film was washed in water, after sublimate in the water plus iodine, the 

 film being in each case previously passed through graded alcohols, or 

 stained straightaway in Delafield's hematoxylin. The excess of stain 

 was then washed out in acid alcchol and the film mounted in balsam. 



Preparing Unfertilised Eggs of Tenthredinidae.* — L. Doncaster 

 obtained eggs of different ages, noting the time when any row of eggs 

 was laid. In this way series of eggs of all ages up to about 4 hours 

 were preserved. In most cases a row of eggs was imbedded entire, and 

 the eggs cut one after another still attached to the leaf. The best fixa- 

 tive was found to be Petrunkewitsch's modification of Gilson's solution 

 (water 300 c.cm., absolute alcohol 200 c.cm., glacial acetic acid 90 c.cm., 

 nitric acid 10 c.cm., sublimate to saturation). The difficulty of saturat- 

 ing the eggs with paraffin was obviated by transferring the eggs from 

 absolute alcohol to cedar oil, where they were allowed to remain for a 

 considerable time, and then passing through xylol, xylol -paraffin, to 

 paraffin. 



The only stain that gave satisfactory results was Heidenhain's iron- 

 haematoxylin. 



Studying Bucephalus Haimeanus.f — D. H. Tennant found that 

 the best fixative for Bucephalus was Flemming's chrom-osmic-acetic 

 mixture (weaker formula). Tissues were allowed to remain in this 

 reagent for 24 hours, and were then washed in running water for a 

 similar period. For G aster ostomum a cold saturated aqueous solution 

 of sublimate, warmed to 35°, was the most satisfactory. The most 

 successful stains were Flemming's triple stain (safranin, gentian-violet, 

 and orange G), and Heidenhain's iron-hasmatoxylin and eosin. 



Demonstrating the Development of the Oculomotor Nerve of 

 the Chick.J — F. W. Carpenter first opened the orbital cavities and 

 placed the whole head in vom Rath's mixture. After 3-5 days the 

 material was carried through several changes of 70 p.c. alcohol, and 

 then the head preserved in a mixture of alcohol and glycerin. Certain 

 portions of the orbit were also fixed in Zenker's fluid or in osmic acid. 

 These were dehydrated in alcohol and paraffin-sections made, and when 

 Zenker's fluid had been used, were stained in acid fuchsin. The ciliary 

 gasserian, and sympathetic ganglia were treated with ■ 05 p.c. chromic 



* Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci., xlix. (1906) pp. 561-90 (2 pis.). 



t Tom. cit., pp. 635-90 (4 pis.). 



: Bull. Mus. Cornp. Zool. Harvard, xlviii. (1906) pp. 141-230 (7 pis.). 



