1883.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



99 



NOTES. 



— ]Mr. John Michels proposes to estab- 

 lish a new paper in tliis city, to be known 

 as Health, "a Journal of Household Ne- 

 cessities and Comforts.'' For the present 

 it will bs a monthlv, but it is proposed to 

 issue it weekly beft)re long. 



— It is well known that some fungi are 

 phosphorescent, and the light is generally 

 supposed to come from the fungus itself, 

 but some recent observations have shown 

 that, at least in certain cases, there are 

 bacteria allied to B. Cafetinla, Ehr., which 

 are luminous, and are in part the source 

 of the light. 



— The Portfolio of Drawings issued 

 by Thomas Bolton, of Birmingham, Eng- 

 land, is a very useful publication for 

 microscopists who collect pond-life. The 

 number for INIarch, 1883, has recently 

 come to hand. It contains illustrations of 

 sixteen species of infusoria, with short 

 descriptions of each. The drawings are 

 not equal to engravings on wood or stone, 

 but they are sufficiently good for their 

 purpose and cost. 



— If the living stem of a plant is cut 

 obhquely and placed in water under the 

 microscope, so that the thin portion of the 

 cut end can be examined, by adding to 

 the water a httle freshly precipitated cal- 

 cium oxalate, or other tinely divided sub- 

 stance, it may be seen that currents flow 

 tOAvard the cut surface, and the particles 

 suspended in the water show the direction 

 and rate of flow of the currents. If the 

 leaves are removed the current ceases. 

 This experiment shows the current of 

 water in growinir wood. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



A Canadian Society. 



To THE Editor. — For the purpose 

 of encouraging investigation into our al- 

 most unknown northern fauna, especially 

 that belonging to the lower forms of life, 

 a society was organized here last autumn, 

 under the name of the " Ottawa Micros- 

 copical Society," with J. F. Whiteaves, 

 F. G. S., as President, and J. B. Tyrrell, 

 F, G. S., as Secietary. 



During the winter, monthly meetings 

 were held, each being devoted to a single 

 topic which was introduced by a paper 



from one of the members, and illustrated 

 by slides and preparations brought in by 

 the leader and all others who took an 

 active interest in the sul^ject. The 

 general discussions which invariably arose 

 after the reading of the papers also added 

 very much to the pleasure of the evenings. 



The subjects taken up during the 

 winter were as follows: — Foraminifera, 

 introduced by Mr. J. F. Whiteaves ; Rock 

 Sections, by Mr. F. D. Adams ; Parasitic 

 Insects, by Mr. J. B. Tyrrell; Fresh- 

 water Diatoms, by Dr. A. F. Kemp; Human 

 Cellular Tissue, % Dr. Small; and Wings 

 of Lepidoptera, by Mr. W. H. Harrington. 



During the months of spring and 

 summer the members will devote them- 

 selves to collecting specimens and study- 

 ing living forms as they occur in the field, 

 that they may again begin their meetings 

 with renewed interest and vigor. 



J. B. Tyrrell, Secretary. 



Ottawa. 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



At a meeting of the New York Society, 

 on the evening of March i6th, Mr. N. L. 

 Britton gave an interesting account of the 

 structure and functions of pollen-grains. 

 He briefly alluded to the two methods 

 of propagation in the vegetable kingdom, 

 viz., — by conjugation and Avithout con- 

 jugation. The protophytes have asexual 

 methods. Referring to the common 

 marine plant iilva, he said there were pro- 

 duced two kinds of zoospores, one kind 

 large, — macrozoospores — which when set 

 free fall to the bottom and grow di- 

 rectly into new fronds, the other small 

 — microzoospores — two or more of which 

 may conjugate and form a zygospore. 

 Rising higher in the scale of life the plants 

 become dioecious. In the ferns there is 

 produced a prothallium in which the re- 

 productive process takes place. Among 

 all the higher plants propagation is sexual. 



The pollen-grains of the angiosperms 

 are always covered by two membranes, 

 the outer being developed from the inner. 

 The protoplasmic contents are granular, 

 containing starch-grains, globules of oil, 

 and small particles -^-^^-^ to y-y^o of an 

 inch in diameter, called fovillas, which are 

 the fertilizing elements of the cell. By 

 placing the pollen-grains of the Calla in 

 water, under the microscope, they can be 

 seen to swell and burst, extruding the 

 fovillae. 



