148 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[August, 



. Attending a meeting of the Quekett 

 Club, on the evening of June 8th, we 

 had an opportunity to observe how 

 the gossip meetings were conducted. 

 They are entirely informal. Members, 

 as they arrive, immediately set up 

 their microscopes, and exhibit what- 

 ever they may deem of in'.erest. Each 

 member is provided with a slip of 

 paper with blanks to be filled up as 

 follows : 



QUEKETT MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 



Meeting, Fiiday, 188 



Object 



Points of interest 



Exhibited by 



This ticket is to be given to the Secretary at the 

 close of the meeting. 



Two blank lines are reserved for 

 the object, and three for "points of 

 interest." 



At the meeting Mr. W. Irwin Curties 

 showed some beautifully mounted iso- 

 lated annular cells from the stem of 

 Opunta cylindrica. Mr. G. Mainland 

 showed a slide of Plumulaj'ia killed 

 with tannic acid. The bodies of the 

 animals were extended from the cells, 

 and while showing the nature of the 

 animal reasonably well, we believe 

 quite as good preparations can be 

 made in the old way by killing the 

 animals with alcohol. Still, the tannic 

 acid process is not yet perfected, and 

 it seems not unlikely that for such 

 specimens as hydroids and zoophytes 

 the acid had better be dissolved in 

 alcohol instead of glycerin. This 

 specimen was shown with the chroma- 

 toscope, which will be fully described 

 at a future time. Mr. H. R. Gregory 

 showed chcetophora eh'gans, the beauti- 

 ful branching alga, which grows within 

 a gelatinous ball, with dark field illu- 

 mination, which made it an unusually 

 beautiful object. One thing will be 

 observed by persons visiting England 

 as microscopists, which is the care 

 taken to show objects in the most 

 striking and effective manner. All 

 kinds of illuminating apparatus ar 

 miDloyed, and applied with skill, as 



s I 



though each object had been made a 



subject of study for the purpose. This 

 is done to some extent in our own 

 country, but not so much as is to be 

 desired. 



Much interest has been aroused in 

 the fresh-water medusa, which is quite 

 abundant now, so we append an ab- 

 stract of Mr. Bolton's description of 

 this delicate organism, Limnocodiiwi 

 Sowerbii : — "Discovered in the Vic- 

 toria Regia Tank, of the Royal Bo- 

 tanic Society, Regents Park, London. 

 on June 9th, 1880. The Generic 

 name (Limnocodiiim) pond bell, very 

 happily describes the general form of 

 the animal, which much resembles a 

 small, shallow, nearly hemispherical 

 bell, of the most delicate structure, 

 transparent almost as glass, the tenta- 

 cles of a beautiful opalescent white, 

 and, as seen floating in the water, re- 

 sembling the ordinary Marine Jelly- 

 Fish, but from which, however, it dif- 

 fers in many particulars. One of the 

 peculiar features is, that the tentacles 

 are extended upwards when the ani- 

 mal is floating, instead of hanging 

 from the bell, as in most other mem- 

 bers of the group. It was exceed- 

 ingly interesting to watch their habits, 

 swimming and floating about at will in 

 all directions, their activity being 

 stimulated by the warmth of the 

 water, so that, by counting the pulsa- 

 tions, the temperature of the water 

 might be ascertained. It is exceed- 

 ingly difficult to trace the introducton 

 of this animal into the tank in the Re- 

 gent's Park, since no plants have been 

 recently added to the lily-house, and 

 the water is run off every year. 

 Probably a few specimens were last 

 year, or the year before, present in 

 the tank, and have only this year mul- 

 tiplied in sufficient abundance to 

 attract attention. Clearly the Medusa 

 is a tropical species, since it flourishes 

 in water of this high temperature 

 (90° F.). The diameter, of the disc 

 does not exceed \ inch. Described 

 by Professor E. Ray Lanke^ter, in 

 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical 

 Science, July, 1880. 



