1886.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



57 



ish, afterward greenish about the 

 border of the growing colony. 

 Growing in sterilized milk this or- 

 ganism imparts to it a bluish green 

 color. 



o 



A New Objective. — Messrs. H. 

 R. Spencer & Co. have recently pro- 

 duced a ^-Q homogene immersion ob- 

 jective that deserves more than a pass- 

 ing notice. The lens was sent to us 

 by the makers, without any special re- 

 mark, with the request that we should 

 test it. As a specimen of the latest 

 work of those opticians, we were 

 much pleased with the opportunity 

 thus afforded to observe the progress 

 they have made in perfecting lenses 

 of this kind. An objective must 

 needs be very good indeed, in these 

 days of fine lenses, to receive special 

 commendation in this place, but the 

 new yV ^^ worthy of it. 



The numerical aperture is 1.35, 

 balsam angle as marked by the 

 makers 125°. As a resolving lens it 

 is superior to any we have seen, and 

 for work on the bacteria it is fully 

 equal to the best in use. This state- 

 ment is not made upon casual exami- 

 nation, but from practical work in 

 the laboratory along with other ob- 

 jectives of well-known excellence. 



It is with much satisfaction that 

 we tender our congratulations to 

 Messrs. Spencer & Co. upon pro- 

 ducing such a creditable objective. 

 It remains now for them to produce 

 an equally good lens of the same 

 power with a gi^eater working dis- 

 tance. This they will no doubt soon 

 accomplish. 



o 



Fresh -Water Bryozoa. — An 

 important contribution to the litera- 

 ture of the bryozoa of fresh water 

 has recently been published by Dr. J. 

 Jullien.* This valuable monograph 

 is based upon studies of specimens 

 found in the vicinity of Paris and 

 Bourgogne, and in foreign countries. 

 With a brief review of the systems of 



classification previously adopted by 

 authors, the writer criticizes very 

 freely, and finds not one of them to 

 accord with the results of his obser- 

 vations. He then proceeds to estab- 

 lish a systein of classification of his 

 own, based principally upon that of 

 Dumortier. The memoir covers 

 about I30 pages, with numerous 

 illustrations in the text. 



*Monographie des bryozoaires d'eau douce, in Bu/- 

 ietin tte la Soc. Zool. de France, 1885. 



Postal Club Boxes. — Box T'^ 

 was received January 19th. 



1. Intra-ocular growth. Geo. E. 

 Fell. 



2. Stein, oi Aristolochia. Ada M. 

 Kenyon. 



3 . Membrane f r o m branchial 

 chamber of the cray-fish with exam- 

 ples of Ct*//^ //■;-«/«; variabilis. Henry 

 Mills. 



4. Parasite from muscles and gills 

 of cray-fish. D. S. Kellicott. 



5. Spirilhtm undnla. J. M. 

 Adams. 



6. Sections of Polygonmn orien- 

 talis. Mary F. Hall. One of the 

 finest specimens of section cutting 

 of vegetable stems we have seen in 

 the boxes. A really excellent piece 

 of work. 



Box C came to hand February 8th. 



1. Basalt. H.C.Lewis. With a 

 good description. Basalt, the writer 

 states, is an eruptive rock, composed 

 of augite, olivine and plagioclase, and 

 he then describes each mineral so it 

 may be recognized in the specimen. 

 For this reason the specimen is one 

 of the most instructive the Club has 

 seen. 



2. Lung of cat injected. G. C. 

 Morris. 



3. Baycura Root. W. H. Walms- 

 ley. Transverse section. Mounted 

 in camphor water with Walmsley's 

 white zinc cement. A very good 

 mount. 



4. Elaters or threads of Trichia 

 chrysosperma. G. A. Rex. An 

 interesting prepai^ation. 



^. Moss. Bry7im annotinum. L. 

 B. Hall. Interesting and well de- 

 scribed. 



