198 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[October, 



To THE Editor : — My copy of the sec- 

 tf;z^ edition of Ouekett was destroyed when 

 my hbrary was burned, but I think that it 

 was in the second edition that Ouekett ex- 

 cluded all notice of Spencer and his lenses. 

 In the first edition he describes the Na- 

 viciila Spencerii and gives a plate of it, 

 now before me. On page 440 of this edi- 

 tion he devotes half a page to the sub- 

 ject. The plate is No. 9. 



Very truly yours, John Phin. 

 Industrial Publishing Co., 



15 Dey St., New York City. 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



San Francisco, Cal. 



The regular semi-monthly m.eeting of 

 the Microscopical Society was held on 

 June 23d, Dr. Mouser presiding. 



Mr. King, of Santa Rosa, who was 

 present as a visitor, donated an unusually 

 rich gathering of Isthmia nervosa, and 

 also a fine slab of fossil diatomaceous 

 earth from an extensive deposit found 

 near Santa Rosa. It contains only fresh- 

 water forms, and as they are practically 

 identical with those in a deposit pre- 

 viously found some twenty miles away 

 there is good reason to believe jhat the 

 two deposits are continuous. 



Specimens of a scale insect found on 

 oak trees were shown under the micro- 

 scope by Mr. Wickson, who briefly out- 

 lined its interesting life history. 



Much interest was excited by the exhi- 

 bition of some collections of animal and 

 vegetable life found in and around Alono 

 Lake by Dr. H. W. Harkness during his 

 recent trip to that locality. Notable 

 among the latter class were specimens of 

 the rare bacterium which has been pro- 

 visionally classed as Bactcriinn rubcsccns, 

 although Dr. Harkness believes there are 

 strong grounds for regarding it as speci- 

 fically new. It is found in immense 

 quantities in Mono Lake, and aggregated 

 masses of it are of a beautiful rose color. 

 It seems to have both a still and a motile 

 stage. No spore formation has been 

 discovered in the preliminary examina- 

 tions, but culture experiments are now 

 being can-ied on which will no doubt 

 disclose its complete life cycle. Numer- 

 ous very active infusoria were found as- 

 sociated with the bacteria, and Dr. Hark- 

 ness reports having found many species 

 of diatoms, some aquatic insect larvae, 

 minute crustaceans, and also fresh-water 

 algae, in this remarkable lake, the water 



of which is so intensely alkaline that it 

 was formerly thought incapable of sup- 

 porting either animal or vegetable life. 

 An official analysis of the water of the 

 'Dead Sea of California,' as it has been 

 called, shows the remarkable proportion 

 of nearly 52 parts of solid constituents 

 in 1,000. 



Specimens were also shown of the 

 evaporated alkaline sediment from Owens 

 Lake stained a bright red by the presence 

 of enormous numbers of the above- 

 mentioned bacterium. Some further 

 communications regarding the flora and 

 fauna of the Mono Lake region have 

 been promised by Dr. Harkness. 



A slide of young oysters was shown by 

 J. G. Clark. 



Dr. C. P. Bates donated a handsome 

 walnut cabinet to the society's rooms, and 

 a vote thanks was unanimously tendered 

 him for the gift. In a letter accompany- 

 ing the same, he stated that it was in- 

 tended as a receptacle for the very valu- 

 able collection of cleaned diatontacece 

 recently presented to the society by 

 William Norris. This unique collection 

 consists of nearly seventy large vials of 

 carefully cleaned diatoms preserved in 

 distilled water. It contains specimens 

 of the more extensive deposits of Cali- 

 fornia diatoms, as well as of the principal 

 deposits from other parts of the world. 

 The large and interesting fossil deposit 

 of marine diatoms, discovered by Mr. 

 Norris several years ago at Jack's ranch, 

 near Monterey, Cal., is well represented 

 in the collection and is particularly rich 

 in fine discoid forms. To the student 

 of the diatomaccce this collection will be 

 of the greatest assistance, and by its ac- 

 quisition the society's already fine stock 

 of diatomaceous material has been con- 

 siderably enhanced in scientific value. 

 A. H. Breckenfeld, Rcc. Seer. 



San Francisco, Cal. 



The announcement of an unusually at- 

 tractive programme drew together a large 

 attendance at the meeting of the San Fran- 

 cisco Microscopical Society, July 14, 1886. 

 In addition to the members of the society, 

 a number of prominent physicians were 

 present. Vice-President Wickson occu- 

 pied the chair. 



The current numbers of the leading sci- 

 entific journals of the day were placed 

 upon the tables. 



The ' Concentric ' form of microscope, 

 manufactured by the Bausch & Lomb 

 Optical Company, was exhibited by Mr. 

 Hirsch. Its distinguishing characteristic 



