1896] MICROS COPICAL JOURNAL. 429 



prepared by boiling it for twenty minutes and subse- 

 quent cooling. 



2. The testing tubes are filled with this water to one- 

 half, the filni is carefully scraped off by means of a little 

 stick, and the liquid contents of the tube are poured out 

 into the prepared solution ; to five glasses of water, 

 three testing tubes are taken. 



3. In the liquid thus obtained, pieces of l)read are 

 soaked and distributed over the pUices indicated. The 

 mixed contagion must be used immediately. Before us- 

 ing the cultures, it is indispensible to test their viru- 

 lence on mice. 



MICROSCOPICAL MANIPULATION. 



To Find Micro. Objects. — It may not be g"enerally known 

 to those who mount their own slides that much g-ood ma- 

 terial can be found during the winter by examining the 

 stems of any dried plants in the hedgerows, as, ^.^^., Nettle, 

 Cock's-foot Grass, etc. In this manner various and often 

 rare insects can be taken in fine condition. The most pro- 

 ductive stems are those not in a vertical position, as when 

 standing at all upright the rain can enter, which makes it 

 too uncomfortable for insects to take up their winter quar- 

 ters there. It is a good plan, when the day is very cold, 

 to take the stems home in a paper bag, and examine them 

 over a sheet of white paper. Moss collected in the woods 

 wdll also yield good results, especially in the beetle tribes. 

 C. J. Watkins. — International Journal of Microscopy and 

 Natural Science. 



A New Method of Preparing Serum Agar-Agar. — Dr. 

 A. A. Kanthack (Lancet) gives the following method of 

 preparing serum agar-agar from ascitic, pleuritic, or hy- 

 drocele fluids. To every 100 c. cm. of serous exudation add 

 2 c. cm. of a ten-per-cent solution of caustic potash; this 

 converts the serum albumin into an alkali albumin, which 



