1892.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 175 



Surgery ofters a jDrize consisting of one ofR. &J. Beck's micro- 

 scopes with accessories worth $40 for the best paper on any 

 subject pertaining to surgery or gynaecology. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Allow me to extend my congratulations to you for successfully- 

 moving against a senseless competition. I predict an extension 

 of circulation for both periodicals. — Chas. Mitchell^ M. D. 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



Sax Francisco, Cal. — W. E. Loy, Sec'y. 



April 6, 'g2. — The regular fortnightly meeting was held at its 

 rooms, at 432 Montgomery street. President Breckenfeld occu- 

 pied the chair, and after the routine business the annual address 

 of ex-President Wickson was read. This address reviewed the 

 work of the society for the past year, which has been the most 

 active one in its history, at least in the last decade. Twenty new 

 members were elected, a larger number than the gain of any two 

 previous years. 



The paper of the evening was prepared and read by Henry G. 

 Hanks, "'■ On a Specimen of Limonite in the Form of Mock 

 Gold." The specimen was brought from Bald Mountain, White 

 Pine county, Nev. 



During the discussion which followed the reading of this 

 paper, Mr. Hanks stated that limonite had no commercial value. 

 It could be used as a pigment, but the same color could he pro- 

 duced with far less expense from other mineral substances. 



Dr. Wythe exhibited some faithful drawings of the structure 

 of the voluntary muscular fibre, made from the muscles of the 

 crab, which had been hardened in absolute alcohol. The draw- 

 ings showed that the muscle is not composed of alternate beads, 

 as popularly supposed. The specimens from which the drawings 

 were made had an amplification of 1,200 diameters. 



George Otis Mitchell exhibited a rare polyzoon, a species ot 

 Lophopus, probably X. crystallina^ found by him recently in a 

 small pond near San Juan, San Benito county. This beautiful 

 animal is figured and described in iVUman's work, published in 

 England about twenty-five years ago ; but it has always been 

 considered a British species. This discovery was very favorably 

 commented on, and it was considered a matter of congratulation, 

 not only to Mr. Mitchell, but to the society as well, that so rare 

 and beautiful a species should have been discovered in California. 



The society's library was augmented by the donation of a vol- 

 ume of the Louisiana State Board of Health report from Charles 

 C. Riedy, containing an early and rare account of investigations 

 into yellow fever germs ; by the first three volumes of the Amer- 



