1884.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



75 



EDITORIAL. 



Publisher's Notices.— All communications, re- 

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The regular receipt of the Journal will be an ac- 

 knowledgment of payment. 



Postal Club Boxes. — Box 6 

 came to hand last month with five 

 excellent slides by Mr. F. F. Stanley, 

 of Boston. They are mounts of 

 named diatoms, which have been 

 selected and mounted with care. It 

 is seldom that the clul) is favored 

 with preparations which have in- 

 volved so much care and time in the 

 making as these, and if a few other 

 members woul^ follow the example 

 set by Mr. Stanley, membership 

 would become more valuable than it 

 is. 



Box 29 is a special contribution 

 from Mr. H. S. Woodman, of 

 Brooklyn, N. Y. It contains speci- 

 mens of insect preparations, and 

 may be taken as a type of what a 

 good box should be. Without doubt 

 it is the most instructive box that has 

 come to our circuit this season. 

 There is a brief description given of 

 each specimen, stating the general 

 method of preparing or mounting it, 

 followed by a few words indicating 

 the special features to be observed. 

 The objects in the box are : — 



1. Sting of Honey-Bee mounted 

 in glycerin. Mr. Walmsley says of 

 this mount that it testifies to the 

 efficiency of wax cells for fluid 

 mounts first introduced by himself. 

 He also refers to the value of the 

 white-zinc cement, of which he 

 speaks highly. 



2. Head of Robber Fly, Asilus sp. 



3. Mask of Pupa of Dragon-Fly. 

 This is a very instructive specimen. 



4. Head of Horse-Fly, Tubanuo 

 lineola. The method of preparing 

 the specimen is given in detail. 



5. Saws of Saw-Fly. In referring 

 to the subject of mounting these 

 specimens, the preparer states that 

 in using the carbolic acid method* 

 he was at first not successful, but 

 found the reason for the unsatisfactory 

 results was that he had been using a 

 solution of carbolic acid in alcohol. 

 On using an aqueous solution the 

 results were excellent. 



6. Silk Worm. This is a fine 

 preparation which shows the tracheal 

 system beautifully. 



The club has purchased a series of 

 Cole's ' Studies,' which is now being 

 sent through the circuits in boxes of 

 two slides each with descriptive text. 

 The first one that came to this circuit 

 contained a section of jfuncus com- 

 munis and a section of diabase. 



Box A, which was lost for about a 

 month, came to hand April 8th, and 

 a few days later came box CK. Of 

 the latter, which contained two slides 

 and accompanying text from Cole's 

 ' Studies,' a section of Euphorbia 

 splendens and a section of red sye- 

 nite, it need only be said that it was 

 as good and instructive as all of this 

 series is sure to be. 



Box A contains six excellent slides : 



1. Pigeon post film. Dr. R. H. 

 Ward. 



2 . Section of scirrhous tumor, stain- 

 ed with eosin and logwood. Dr. J. 

 D. Lomax. ' G. N. K.' says it is 

 ' interesting and well mounted,' 

 which is very true. 



3. Longitudinal section of testicle 

 of cat. C. E. Hanaman. A fine 

 preparation. 



4. Seeds of Saponaria calabrica. 

 George Timrnins. These are the 

 most beautifully ornamented seeds 

 we have seen. 



5. Prephenus Lecontei^ said to be 

 the larva of a water beetle. Frank 

 Ritchie. A fine preparation, show- 

 ing the trachea very well indeed. 



6. Eleters and spores of Asterella 

 rcmisp/icerica. Joseph McKay. 

 This, coming from an officer of the 



♦ Vol. i. p. 161. 



