2l8 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[November, 



with tentacles waving as in life, 

 alihough we believe the bodies are 

 somewhat shrunken from life-size. 

 Beloe ovatus is beautifully shown, also 

 the delicate Obelia gcniculata with 

 polypes, like Actinia, Alcyoniiun, etc., 

 echini and salpae. 



These are, assuredly, the finest and 

 most useful museum-specimens of the 

 kind we have seen, as they afford a 

 far better idea of the appearance of 

 the living animals than can be ob- 

 tained from shrivelled and distorted 

 specimens preserved in alcohol in the 

 usual way. Take, as an example, the 

 suckers of the Octopus. Ordinarily they 

 are seen, in alcoholic specimens, dis- 

 torted and irregular in shape, while in 

 the specimens shown at the Exhibition 

 thev have smooth, round borders, and 

 a natural appearance. 



These objects are not all micro- 

 scopic, but soine of them are, and 

 microscopists who are able to obtain 

 their specimens of hydroid polypes, 

 or zoophytes, and polyzoa alive, 

 would do well to supplement their 

 microscopic preparations of those ani- 

 mals with a set of specimens prepared 

 for exhibition in bottles, to show the 

 manner of growth, and the natural 

 size and appearance of the living 

 animals. Such a collection would be 

 very attractive as well as instructive. 

 It is well known that as such speci- 

 mens are usually prepared each cup 

 of the polypedoms contains a dense, 

 more or less, granular and opaque 

 mass of animal matter, totally unlike 

 what is seen in a living specimen. 

 In the preparations referred to above 

 the stalks seem clear and clean, and 

 are far more attractive to the eye. 



The method of killing the animals 

 at Naples, we are told, is, in brief, as 

 follows : The living creatures are 

 plunged into a solution of iodine, or 

 into a strong solution of corrosive 

 sublimate. From either of these 

 solutions, which seem to suddenly 

 kill the animals and harden the soft 

 parts, the specimens are transferred 

 to dilute spirit, in which they are 

 permanently preserved. We hope 



soon to have more full details of the 

 process. 



NOTES. 



— We are pleased to announce that at 

 a meeting of the Royal Microscopical 

 Society, held last month. Dr. Henri \'an 

 Heurck was elected an Honorary Fellow 

 of the Society. 



— Mr. Amos Topping, of London, who 

 is the successor of his father in the busi- 

 ness of preparing microscope slides, fa- 

 vored us with a call at the f^isheries 

 Exhibition, some time ago, and brought 

 with him some of his preparations, which 

 we were much pleased to see. All work- 

 ers with the microscope are familiar with 

 the preparations for which the elder Mr. 

 Topping has long been famous. His son 

 continues to supply the trade and micro- 

 scopists generally with preparations of 

 his own, many of which find their way to 

 America. 



— Referring to mounted specimens of 

 microscopic objects, we have observed 

 that in England they can be bought much 

 cheaper than in America; in fact the 

 prices charged here are quite exorbitant 

 when compared with the prices in London. 

 Slides of the ordinary kmd. well mounted 

 and in every respect good, can be pur- 

 chased in London for a shilling each, — 

 twenty-five cents in our money. This is 

 the ordinary retail price, when bought 

 singly or by the dozen. 



— The processes of reproduction of 

 foraminifera are still but vaguely known. 

 An interesting observation has been made 

 in relation to the subject by C. Schacko, 

 who has found within the chambers of 

 Peneropolis proteus, D'Orb., taken from 

 the intestine ol a holothurian more than a 

 hundred embryos, thirty in the last, large 

 chamber, twenty-six in the preceding 

 chamber, and sixty more in the other 

 chamber. Each of the embryos was the 

 same size as the embryonal chamber of 

 the mother shell. They appear to have 

 ori<j;inated by segmentation of the sarcode 

 of the parent. 



— Prof. E. D. Cope has discovered a 

 fresh-water hydroid, having a coenrecium 

 forming a mass of yellowish, creeping 

 stems imbedded in sarcode. The zooids 

 has SIX rays of equal length. The spe- 



