1893.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 31 



>II( IM)S(OIM( A'. NKWS. 



Australian Fungi. — A pamphlet on this subject has just been 

 prcparetl by M. C. Cooke. It is illustrated in 7 full-sized colored 

 plates containinj^ about 40 figures in all. There are included 38 

 varieties of the A^arictis. 



Queen & Co. — The firm of James V\^ Qiieen & Co., which 

 consisted of S. L. Fox and E. B. Fox, was dissolved on January 

 I, 1S93. The stock, fixtures, good-will, and factories have be- 

 come the property of a stock company to be known as " Qiieen 

 & Co., Incorporated." The directors of the companv are S. L. 

 Fox, E. B. Fox, F. \V. Stanwood. J. G. Gray, \Vm. Biddle. Jr., 

 and J. (j. Biddle. The business will be continued at loio Chest- 

 nut St., Philadelphia. 



Acknowledgment. — Mr. George Otis Mitchell, secretary of 

 the ."^an Francisco Microscopical Society, has sent us a nice slide 

 of Dentzi'a crcnata bleached for use with the oolariscope. It 

 looks best with no selenite, and shows white stars on a black back- 

 ground. 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



Royal Microscopical Society. — The first meeting of the 

 session of this society took place on Wednesday, October 19th, at 

 20 Hanover Square, W. ; Mr. G. C. Karop, M. R. C. S.. vice- 

 president, in the chair. 



The chairman exhibited and described Messrs. Swifts' alumin- 

 ium microscope, which he believed to be the first microscope 

 made of that metal. The chief point in the instrument was its 

 extreme lightness, the whole thing complete, including the con- 

 denser and eyepieces, only weighing 2 lbs. ia| oz., as against the 

 weight (7 lbs. 13 oz.) of a precisely similar stand made, in the same 

 way, of brass. It was perhaps not entirely correct to say that 

 every portion was of aluminium, because there were certain 

 mechanical difficulties met with which prevented some portions 

 from being made of that metal ; for instance, he believed it was 

 almost impossible to cut a fine screw upon it without the thread 

 "■ stripping," and it was also found extremely difficult to solder, 

 so that all necessary screws in the instrument were made of brass ; 

 the Campbell fine adjustment was of steel, the rack-and-pinion 

 coarse adjustment was also not made of aluminium, and the nose- 

 piece was of German silver. 



Prof. F. JertVey Bell read a letter received from Mr. H. G. A. 

 Wright, of Sydney, stating that the scale of Podura in his posses- 

 sion was deeply notched, and that on one side of the notch an 



