1885.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



105 



A Collecting Bottle. 



We illustrate this month a device 

 for collecting, which was described 

 more than a year ago in the Journal 

 of the Royal Microscopical Society, 

 but which was crowded out from oiu- 

 columns at the time. The apparatus 

 scarcely requires any description. It 



Fig. i8.— a Collecting liottlc. 



consists ot a light wire frame covered [ 

 with muslin, made to grasp the neck 

 of the bottle. It is attached to a rod i 

 or walking-stick. The wire keeps 

 the muslin stretched, which is a 

 great advantage, as those who have 

 had experience in collecting will , 

 readily understand. 



For the benefit of those who have 

 not had experience in collecting it 

 may be said that the organisms in 

 pools of water are usually found in 

 greatest abundance living among the 

 vegetation along the borders and at 

 the bottom, or in the masses of alg£e 

 which float on the surface. They | 

 should be secured by scraping along [ 

 the plants and washing the finds j 

 down into the bottle, from which 

 they are easily transferred to smaller 

 vials for convenience. 



Orthocarpus Purpurescens. 



The seeds of Orthocarpus pur- 

 purescens possess marked character- 

 istics of interest to the microscopical 

 observer. The plant which furnishes 

 them is a native of California, where 

 it appears in early spring, usually in 

 large patches. The gejius Orthocar- 

 pus belongs to the family Scrophu- 

 lariaceae and is represented by nine 

 or moi'e species in California. Of 



these O. purpurescens is one of the 

 largest and most showy. It is a low 

 plant about six inches high, usually 

 strict but sometimes branching and 

 bearing a spike of small crimson' 

 flowers and colored bracts. The 

 blossoms are much visited by insects 

 for the sake of the contained nectar. 

 The ripened seeds 

 are shaped like a 

 truncated cone about 

 0.7^ mm. broad and 

 1.35 mm. long. It 

 is at once observed 

 that they present a 

 punctated appear- 

 ance and in certain 

 positions reflect 

 light strongly. 

 . Placing some of 



the seeds in a shallow cell on an ob- 

 ject slide, and transferring the same 

 to the stage of the microscope, we ex- 

 amine them by reflected light, with a 

 three-inch or two-inch objective. Be- 

 hold, a revelation ! That which we 

 saw glitter is a latticed capsule, re- 

 minding us of the Radiolaria, and the 

 seed itself is a plummet-shaped brown 

 body safely lying within. If some of 

 the seeds are comparatively green we 

 may see that some of the interstices 

 are yet closed by a thin membrane. 



Examining by various methods ot 

 illumination we discover that a charm- 

 ing effect is brought out by the dark 

 ground illumination. The latticed 

 network inclosing the seed now shines 

 like crystal. This resemblance is 

 enhanced when on trying the polari- 

 scope we find that the capsule acts on 

 polarized light. The use of a suit- 

 able selenite is desirable. This reac- 

 tion to polarized light appears to 

 prove that the trabeculae of the cap- 

 sule are largely composed of silica. 

 What purpose the capsule may sub- 

 serve remains as yet unknown. 



Few, if any, seeds can equal these 



in varied microscopic interest, and 



they are heartily commended to all 



observers. Edward Gray. 



[We have received a beautiful pre- 



