1886.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



39 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Is it Codonella? 



To THE Editor : — In Mitt, aus der 

 Zool. Stat, zu Neapel VI, p. 196, Professor 

 G. Eutz describes a ciliate infusorian with 

 the name Codonella laciistris, n. sp. The 

 descriptions and reasons for referring it 

 to the genus Codonella were drawn from 

 a study of specimens, ' wenn auch nicht 

 ganz gut,' prepared by Dr. E. Daday, and 

 which were collected in a fine net from 

 Mezo-Zah in Siebenbiirgen and from a 

 pond at Budapest. He considers the spe- 

 cies the same as that described, the shell 

 only being known, by Dr. Joseph Leidy, in 

 Fresh-water Rhizopods of North America 

 as Difflugia cratera, but which he sup- 

 posed might pertain to a species of Infu- 

 soria of the genus Tinthmus rather than 

 to the Rhizopoda. In the fall of 1880 I 

 was fortunate enough to take the animal 

 living from the water supply of Buffalo, 

 and in October of that year I advised Dr. 

 Leidy by letter that I had so taken it 

 and that his conjecture as to its infuso- 

 rial affinities was correct. I have taken 

 it sparingly at different times since, and 

 from such examination as I have been 

 able to give it and from a consideration 

 of its characters and habits presented by 

 Mr. Vorce in the paper cited below, I 

 regard the species more properly classi- 

 fied with the Tinlan.ni than with the 

 CodonellcF, and have so recorded it in my 

 notes under the name Tintinnus cratera. 



In vol. ii, p. 223 (1881), this Journal, 

 Mr. C. M. Vorce reported the living ani- 

 mal taken from the Cleveland, O., water 

 supply, and gave an account of its appear- 

 ance and behavior. Mr. Vorce has also 

 referred to it under the name Tintinnus 

 sp. in the Proc. Amer. Soc. of Micr., vol. 

 iv, p. 193 (1882) and PI. Ill, fig. 34. 



If it is in fact a species of Tintinnns, 

 whose species ? 



D. S. Kellicott. 



Buffalo, N. Y., Nov. 5, 1885. 



Preserving Urinary Casts. 



To the Editor : — Regarding urinary 

 casts, as also pus, epithelium and sper- 

 matozoa, I have quite a number of speci- 

 mens of each, in ?s many different pre- 

 serving media. In each case the mother 

 liquid (urine) has outlived all others, and 

 now, after a lapse of four years, they are 

 just beginning to disintegrate. 



In my experience there is no better 



medium than the mother liquid for such 

 specimens. 



Boston, Mass. C. P. Pengra. 



Restoring Mounts 



To the Editor : — Can any reader of 

 the Journal tell me how to remove beads 

 of moisture from a dry slide of P. angic- 



latitm ? 



A New Find of Fossil Diatoms. 



To the Editor: — At a late meeting of 

 the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, 

 Dr. George A. Kding called attention to 

 the occurrence of diatoms in clay taken 

 from a railroad cutting witliin the limits 

 of that city, and that he had identified 

 three species of Pinnularia therein. I 

 wrote to him for a sample of the clay, and 

 found that the material was quite rich in 

 diatoms, and that the following genera 

 were well represented, viz : — Pinnularia, 

 Stauroneis, Navicula, Surirella, Nitzschia, 

 Cotconema, Encyonenia, Cynibella, Epi- 

 tJieniia, Gomphojienia, Eunotia, Fragilla- 

 ria, Cocconeis, Cyctotella, and several 

 small species of genera not identified ; 

 also sponge spicules of various foi'ms. 

 K. M. Cunningham. 



Mobile, Ala., Jan.. '86. 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



Washington, D. C. 



Thirty-seventh meeting, January 12th, 

 1886. Prof. \V. H. Seaman read a paper 

 on Mounting Media of High Refrac- 

 tive Powers, which is published in full 

 on another page. He showed specimens 

 mounted in the two new media described, 

 and also in several other of the newer 

 media of high refractive powers. He 

 thought the solutions of phosphorus in oil 

 of cassia, and sulphur in anilin were new. 



Mr. Hitchcock said that sulphur had 

 been used as a mounting medium, but 

 not in the manner proposed by Prof. 

 Seaman. 



Dr. Taylor asked as to the practicabil- 

 ity of using an alcoholic solution of bal- 

 sam as a mounting medium. 



Dr. Schaeffer said that he had begun 

 to use alcohol balsam in 1872 and had 

 continued to use it ever since. The solu- 

 tion should be made by heating the 

 hardened balsam and adding to it, while 

 hot, absolute alcohol. 



Mr. Hitchcock showed a specimen of 

 A. pellucida, mounted in Prof. Smith's 



