1885.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



135 



dition to such a system has resulted 

 in a successful year, satisfactory to 

 the members as \yell as to the officers. 



Our monthly notices of the boxes 

 as they come to this circuit may or 

 may not be of \alue. They serye as 

 a record of ^yhat passes through the 

 circuits each year, and for this, if for 

 no other reason, we purpose to con- 

 tinue them. Merely as a record they 

 \yill be of interest to some of the 

 members, and if the few words of 

 commendation or criticism that occa- 

 sionally appear result in improying 

 the character of the preparations, or 

 lead contributors to add more infor- 

 mation concerning their preparations 

 in the letter package, we shall be much 

 pleased at the result. 



The preparations as a whole are 

 not yet what they should be. During 

 the year just passed there has been a 

 noticeable improyement oyer previous 

 years, but there is still room for much 

 better work. Each member is only 

 called upon for a single preparation 

 during a whole year, and it seems as 

 though that one should be one of the 

 best, and, even if the preparer merely 

 uses the microscope for pastime, a 

 few hours' study will enable him to 

 write a description of it that will add 

 greatly to its yalue to others like him- 

 self. 



The annual repoilof the Club for the 

 year 1884 has recently come to hand. 

 The Club has now been in existence 

 ten years. There are twenty-two cir- 

 cuits of six members each. During 

 nine months of 1884 one hundred and 

 ten preparations passed through every 

 circuit. The Managers say : 



' Of the slides contributed last year, 

 many were of great interest, and the 

 average was probably as high as could 

 be reasonably expected. Some inem- 

 bers have desired that a censorship of 

 slides be provided, in order to secure 

 objects of a high grade ; but no plan 

 has been suggested w^hich would not 

 occasion increased labor and imprac- 

 ticable delays. The selection is thei'e- 

 fore left to members themselves, trust- 

 ing to their otlering things worthy of 



study, and avoiding so far as possible 

 the duplication of objects frequently 

 circulated. Valuable special boxes 

 representing original work have been 

 contributed diu'ing the year by Messrs. 

 J. Kruttschnitt, J. M. Adams, and 

 Geo. Timmins. In judging of the 

 circuit boxes, those few persons who 

 have extraordinary facilities for secur- 

 ing material and making superb slides 

 should remember that there are learn- 

 ers as well as teachers, and that those 

 fellow-workers whose opportunities 

 for intercourse at the centres of learn- 

 ing are most limited are often those 

 who need the privileges of the Club 

 most definitely and prize them most 

 highly ; that a club composed of a 

 few experts of equal advantages would 

 be of a selfish character, and greatly 

 limited in size and usefulness ; and 

 that unpretending slides have often 

 contained points of interest to the 

 most experienced members.' 



Empty boxes for new preparations 

 will be sent out soon, and members 

 should have their contributions ready 

 so as not to delay the boxes. 



Studies of Amceb^. — Dr. August 

 Gruber, of the University of Freiburg-, 

 has published a valuable contribution 

 of 38 pages* and three lai-ge colored 

 plates, describing his observations on 

 amoebae. The special object of these 

 investigations was to establish, if pos- 

 sible, some characters by which the 

 different species can be identified. In 

 this the author believes he has suc- 

 ceeded. To accomplish the result, 

 it was necessary to study the different 

 species for long periods of time, in 

 order to discover any modifications 

 of form they might undergo. Dur- 

 ing nine months no indication of 

 transformation was observed in the 

 species studied, but all were sharply 

 defined, and showed at the end of the 

 year the same peculiarities of struc- 

 tvu'e. These observations were con- 

 ducted upon specimens collected from 

 a small pond, and the same species in 



*Studien iiber Amoeben. Leipzig. 



