14 THE AMEKICAN MONTHLY [January, 



of intestinal worms which the cleaning of a freshly-caught shad revealed. 

 Nor does the writer consider cod a greater delicacy since purchasing 

 what was recommended as unusually fine steak. When this fish was 

 brought out to be prepared for dinner there were worms, which had 

 deserted their companions and freed themselves from the fish, wriggling 

 around on the plate, fully three inches in length, one of which is still 

 preserved in alcohol. 



Prof. Verrill in his Report on the Invertebrate Animals of Vineyard 

 Sound, says that internal parasites are found in most kinds of fishes, 

 chiefly in the stomach and intestines, but also very frequently in the 

 flesh. They belong to four very distinct orders. Nematodes, or round 

 worms, related to the Trichlnce of man and the hog, one or more 

 species of which is found in the intestines of nearly every kind of fish, 

 one, two, or three inches in length, being frequently found coiled up 

 in the flesh of cod, flat worms, the flukes or TrciJiatodes^ the Acan- 

 tkocepkala or the ray-headed worms, and the Cestodes or tape worms. 

 Parasitic worms are most common in the voracious fishes, and among 

 the edible fishes, in salmon, cod, blue-fish, and haddock. 



Slide No. 2, a jilmy fern frofn Jamaica., Trichomanes lucens., 

 showing involucre and sporangia, bleached in Labaraque's solution 

 and mounted in glycerine after being double stained in carmine and an- 

 iline green. Mr. E. B. Grove, of New York, the preparer, says that 

 he has been unable to find aniline green dye which stained uniformly, 

 and did not bleach in the subsequent processes of dehydration, etc. 



Slide No. J, a transverse section of human medulla oblofiga. 

 This was prepared by G. R. Elliott, M. D., New York, by Weigert's 

 haematoxylin method, and is accompanied by copious notes and a draw- 



No. 4., section of kidney of a rattlesnake. This is certainly a 

 model contribution, both as to the preparation, drawings, fullness of 

 description, and legible chirography. It is by the late Dr. M. N. Mil- 

 ler, of New York, whom the managers in a short note characterize as 

 having been one of the most faithful friends and members of the Club. 

 The mount is hardened with Midler's fluid followed by alcohol, stained 

 with haematoxylin and mounted in turpentine dammar. 



No. 5, by Dr. H. N. Briggs, of Carnegie Laboratory, is cholera 

 comma-bacillus from culture from patient suffering from Asiatic chol- 

 era. Dried on slide, stained with methyl violet, mounted in balsam, 

 and shouldbe viewed with a ^^ or Jg oil immersion lens. 



No. 6 is a carbon takeit frofji an Edison incafidescent lamp., con- 

 tributed by H. L. Brevoort, of Brooklyn, N. Y. The incandescent 

 lamp employs a filament made in this case from bamboo. The bamboo 

 is cut to shape and is then carbonized. After this, it is usually treated 

 by heating it with a current while in the presence of some gas or liquid 

 capable of depositing carbon on the filament. This is done to give the 

 proper electrical resistance. The carbon filament is next placed within 

 a glass globe, the air from which is pumped out, and finally the globe 

 is sealed. Various substances besides bamboo have been used, but the 

 greater number of lamps made to-day are bamboo lamps. 



