110 _THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Apr 
hind leg, which is specially adapted for swimming by the 
flattening of the tibie and tarsi, and by their being furn- 
ished with rows of long bristles. The fore-legs of the 
males are even more interesting, the basal joints being 
expanded into broad flat plates, furnished with curious 
sucker-like discs, which secrete an adhesive fluid similar 
to that in the foot of the housefly. 
EPIDERMIS OF LEAF OF AURICULA.—This was stripped 
from the underside of a leaf, treated with dilute nitric 
acid, and stained and mounted in Canada balsam. Its 
main interest lies in the glandular hairs, which are best 
- geen with a 34-inch objective, and in the stomata.—M. T. 
McGBHIE. | 
I have been much interested in some of Mr. McGhie’s 
slides, and always like to see members prepare their own 
slides.—ED 
TUBERCLE IN SPLEEN.—A high power objective is nec- 
essary to properly display the stained Bacillus tuberculo- 
sis. I have examined the section with a 1-12-in. oil-im. 
and fail to detect any bacilli. The abbreviations at cor- 
ner of label of slide—which I construe to mean: par. = 
paraffin, as embedding agent; al. car. = alum carmine,as 
stain ; or. —oil of origanum, as clearing agent; C.B. = 
Canada balsam, as mounting medium—represent a meth- 
od of preparation not calculated to demonstrate tubercle 
bacilli. The nuclei of the tissue are well stained, and the 
tubercle, which in the spleen is always secondary to tu- 
bercle elsewhere, is seen as miliary granulations, but no 
bacilli are visible. The bacilli are not readily stained in 
tissue such as this. The Ziehl-Neelsen method is the best. 
The special advantage of this method is that not only does 
it demonstrate the tubercle bacilli, but it is at the same 
time diagnostic, as no other bacilli are stained in this way 
except the bacilli of leprosy. The method is as follows: 
the sections are transferred from weak spirit to carbolic 
