1900] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 185 



nelt of Loda, Illinois, also for the first time, communi- 

 cated with me in complimentary terms, stating that while 

 he did not prepare the diatoms, he atill had an admira- 

 tion for them, and had many fine slides of various pre- 

 parers his specialty having been chiefly insect prepara- 

 tions. 



In the desire to be agreeable, as well as accommodat- 

 ing to those who honored me with their correspondence, 

 my attention was again turned to the Mobile River de- 

 posit. I did not know how to master the problem, but I 

 took it up, out of regard to my new correspondents, and 

 made the attempt as follows : I knew before hand, that 

 the space before the wharf had been dredged to a depth 

 of 20 feet, and that the diatom-bearing stratum must be 

 below that depth if not covered with coarse sandy silt. So 

 I provided myself with a lead sinker, surrounded with a 

 stijBF paper bag. This was let down from a tug lying out 

 in the river, and when bottom was reached the bottom 

 surface was dragged, and plummet drawn up. The re- 

 sult was uncertain, as the plummet and paper gave no mud 

 reaction, but established a depth of 20 feet of water, and 

 a strong dragging current. So, to get a sample of the 

 bottom would require a pole 25 feet long with an augur, 

 or hollow iron pipe attached to it, I then deemed this too 

 diflBcult to handle and abandoned theproject for that point; 

 but later on revolving the subject in my mind, and still 

 devising a method to accomplish my results. 



I went to the Mobile Dry Dock, a point on the river 

 front, but quite in reach of the central part of the city, 

 that is, a few minutes walk, whereas the other two al- 

 ready recorded diatom deposits are respectively a mile to 

 the north, and two miles to the south on the water front, 

 and are entirely dissimilar from the deposit referred to 

 herein. It was while gazing at the dry dock, that I casu- 

 ally noticed a 30-foot measuring strip lying near by and 

 I immediately decided to utilize it then and there. 



