114 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[June, 



There is one other matter that 

 should not need correction, for it is 

 one which each member of the club 

 should feel under obligation to avoid. 

 We refer to the habit some persons 

 have of keeping boxes more than the 

 time allow^ed by the rules. It is an 

 injustice to the whole club when any 

 member does this ; and an offence so 

 utterly without justification that it 

 should not be tolerated by the man- 

 agement of the club. We remember 

 a few years ago the working of the 

 club was much interfered with by the 

 difficulty of getting boxes through 

 certain circuits, and some circuits had 

 to be reorganized, leaving out one or 

 more members, after which there was 

 a considerable impi"ovement. This 

 was true of one of the circuits in New- 

 York city. We hear complaints 

 again arising but it is to be hoped 

 these few words will have an influ- 

 ence for good upon the members who 

 are at fault in the matter. 



Postal Club Boxes. — Box H* 

 contains some excellent preparations : 



1. Fossil Oyster Shell Bored by 

 Sponge. J. D. Hyatt. This slide 

 illustrates a subject to which Mr. 

 Hyatt has given much attention. The 

 boring sponge is known to attack 

 oyster shells and to riddle them with 

 holes, but the method by which they 

 are able to penetrate the shells is still 

 obscure. Mr. Hyatt has studied the 

 process with care, and has published 

 an article* giving his results. 



2. Parasites of Canary. Rev. W. 

 Huckel. Mounted in glycerin with- 

 out pressure, hence they give one a 

 good idea of the living pai'asites, 

 which flattened specimens cannot do. 



3. A section of Chalina Oculata. 

 G. I. Whitehead. The preparer 

 might have told us, at least, what 

 Chalina oculata is. It is one of the 

 fibrous sponges, having the fibres 

 filled with acei"ate Spicules. The 

 preparation is a good one. 



4. Section of Brecciated Jasper. 

 W. H. Mead. A good section ; very 

 fine with polai-iscope. 



*This journal, Vol. iii, p. 8. 



5. Stigmaria from Coal Beds. M. 

 M. LeBrun. A fine, large section, 

 with good description. 



6. Portion of Leaf of Galium apa- 

 rim. J. L. Wall. A good prepai^a- 

 tion, showing well the epidermal cells, 

 hairs, and stomata. 



Box D reached us on the i6th of 

 May. It contains some good slides : 



1. Human Blood. A. T. Veeder. 

 As a member has written in the letter 

 package, the slide is not properly de- 

 scribed, as the account of the method 

 of pi-eparation is so vague that one 

 can scaixely understand what special 

 features are to be noted. The mount- 

 ing, however, is good. 



2. Section of Trifoliu7n arvense^ 

 with adhering Cuscuta epithyfnut/i. 

 F. T. Aschman. This is an instruct- 

 ive preparation showing how the 

 parasitic plant derives its nourish- 

 ment from the clover. 



3. Blood Discs of Mefiopo7tia. Al- 

 legheniensis. T. D. Biscoe. The 

 species is one of the salamanders. 

 The blood cells are much shrunken, 

 and it apjjears that the mount was not 

 perfect when it was sent out on its 

 travels. 



4. Branched Hairs of the Mullein. 

 E. W. Morley. A fine object. Mr. 

 Vorce suggests to make such mounts 

 thinner by macerating the leaf and 

 stripping oft' the epidermis, and then 

 to mount for the liebei"kuhn. 



5. Transverse section of Leaf-stalk 

 of Fern. E. L. Cheeseman. Dou- 

 ble stained. Very good, but the sec- 

 tion is rather thick. 



6. Statoblasts or Winter Eggs of 

 Plu7natella. W. W. Munson. This 

 slide, which is an interesting one, has 

 suffered from bad usage, but has been 

 repaired on the way. 



A New Journal. — A quarterly 

 microscopical journal which promises 

 to occupy a high position among sci- 

 entific publications has recently been 

 established in Gottingen under the 

 control of Dr. W^ilh. Jul. Behrens, 

 assisted by Profs. L. Dippel, Max 

 Flesch, and Arth. Weichmann. It 

 is named the Zeitschrift fiir wis- 



