1882.] 



MICEOSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



199 



above all things. They " cannot use 

 it," " it makes the specimens granu- 

 lar," they have all sorts of objections 

 to it. So they use balsam, and most 

 of the specimens sold are balsam- 

 mounts. Evidently there is some- 

 thing wrong ; but the doctors disa- 

 gree, so how are we to know what to 

 do? 



Perhaps many of our readers re- 

 member how bitterly Dr. Beale was 

 attacked by many writers, when he 

 first praised glycerin for mounting. 

 He was allowed no quarter, and an 

 impartial reader could only conclude 

 that Dr. Beale had deliberately told 

 a great many untruths about his ex- 

 perience with glycerin, or else that 

 his critics v/ere talking at random, 

 and without giving his methods a 

 fair trial. Undoubtedly the fault 

 was with the latter, for glycerin is 

 now successfully used by many. 



The studies of Prof. Abbe, Mr. 

 Stephenson, and a few others, have 

 led to a more accurate knowledge of 

 the influence of mounting media up- 

 on the appearance of various objects, 

 so that it is only necessary to kn(jw 

 the refractive index of the parts we 

 desire to examine to select the best 

 medium for their demonstration. 

 To be sure, it is quite impracticable 

 to do this, but the researches of these 

 gentlemen have proved that the visi- 

 bility of objects is determined by the 

 relative refractive indices of the ob- 

 ject and the medium in which it is 

 mounted. Hence, to obtain the best 

 results possible with any specimen, 

 it is only necessary to have a series 

 of mounting fluids of different refrac- 

 tive powers, and to try each one of 

 them until the effect is satisfactory. 

 The fluid described on page 1 16 ful- 

 fills all these requirements for any ob- 

 ject that may be chosen, and micro- 

 scopists and histologists should not 

 be slow to avail themselves of the ad- 

 vantages afforded by this compound. 



Transactions of the Connecti- 

 cut Academy of Arts and Scien- 



ces. — The second parts of Volumes 

 IV and V have both been issued. 

 Among the most notable contribu- 

 j tions in the former we notice one by 

 I Prof. Verrill, on " New England 

 Annelida" which is an historical 

 sketch with annotated lists of the 

 species hitherto recorded,, illustrated 

 with nine plates. This number also 

 contains articles on new diptera, with 

 an account of the American species 

 of Co?iops ; on Pimixia and certain 

 decapod Crustacea of the New-Eng- 

 land coast. 



The second part of the fifth vol- 



j ume, contains about 350 pages, and 



33 fine plates, illustrating two articles 



! by Prof. Verrill, one on the Cephalo- 



i pods of the north-eastern coast of 



North America, the other a catalogue 



of the Marine Mollusca added to the 



Fauna of New England, during the 



past ten years. 



NOTES. 



— Mr. Grunow, the maker of the mi- 

 cro::cope described in the August number, 

 informs us that we were in error in stating 

 that the objective furnished with it is a 

 X-inch. It should have been i/^-inch. 

 The objective sold with the stand is a yi- 

 inch, warranted to resolve Pleurosigma 

 angulatum in balsam, with central light. 

 Mr. Grunow has also devised a new cam- 

 era lucida, which he thinks possesses cer- 

 tain advantages over all others. We hope 

 to describe it next month. 



— Prof. D. S Kellicott has sent us the 

 following note : — 



" I found Ophrydiiitn versatile at 

 Round Lake, Petoskey, Mich., in July last. 

 The masses were floating or attached to 

 weeds in shallow water ; the size of the 

 globes varied from that of a cherry to 

 four or five inches in diameter. I have 

 recently found small ones at Buffalo." 



— The Aurora (111.) Microscopical Soci- 

 ety, at its annual meeting held September 

 6th, elected the following officers for the 

 ensuing year : Rev. R. O. Shepperd, D. 

 D., President ; Chas. W. Ouereau, Vice- 

 President ; Dr. John E. Hurlbut, Secre- 

 tary ; Arthur P. Vaughan, Esq., Treasur- 

 er ; Dr. H. G. Gable, Prof. J. H. Freeman, 



