198 



Notes and Nevjs. Ytpd 



.06 in. external diameter. The embrj^o was allowed to decay as suggested 

 by Capt. Bendire, when, after about a week, it could nearly all be drawn 

 through the tube. A few pieces of bone, the largest being the tip of the 

 upper mandible, were withdrawn with the forceps. The shells are 

 readily washed clean after removing the contents by submerging in water 

 and allowing the pump to act until the wash water comes out clear from 

 the shell. In case of eggs which are injured by water this plan will of 

 course not answer. 



The filtering flask used should be of strong glass, as otherwise the 

 atmospheric pressure outside might cause its collapse, which may be 

 nearly as disastrous as an explosion. 



The rubber tubing should be of the kind known as pressure tubing. 



All joints should be made tight to prevent the leakage of air and con- 

 sequent lowering of the efficienc}^ of the aspirator. 



The different parts of this apparatus may be obtained from an^^ dealer 

 in chemical supplies, the most expensive item — ^the Chapman aspir- 

 ator — costing about a dollar and a half. 



When the water tap is provided with a screw thread, as is sometimes 

 the case, the aspirator may be obtained with a connection suitable for 

 attaching directly to the tap, which does away with considerable trouble 

 in attaching to a water main. A water pressure of twenty-five pounds is 

 found to work well. Pi-obably a higher pressure would give still better 

 results. 



E. E. Brewster. 

 Iron Mountain, Mick., 

 Dec. 3, 1894. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Mr. George N. Lawrence, one of the Founders and an Honorarv 

 Member of the American Ornithologists' Union, and for some years a 

 member of its Council, died Jan. 17, 1895, at his residence in New York 

 City, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. Mr. Lawrence was especially 

 known as an authority on the birds of tropical America, to which his 

 attention was chiefly given during the long period of his scientific 

 activity. As a writer on North American birds he will be mainly remem- 

 bered for his association with Baird and Cassin in the authorship of the 

 famous ' IXth Volume ' of the Reports of Explorations and Surveys for a 

 Railroad Route from the Mississippi Rivei-to the Pacific Ocean, published 



