58 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[March, 



Copies of the Proceedings can be 

 obtained from the treasurer of the 

 Society, Dr. Geo. E. Fell, Buffalo, 

 N. Y. 



Text of Synopsis of Diatoms. — 

 The text of this valuable work will be 

 issued in a short time, probably next 

 month. It makes a volume of more 

 than 200 pages, printed on paper like 

 the Atlas, and uniform with the latter 

 in size. The price will be definitely 

 announced hereafter, when a more full 

 notice will appear. 



At the same time will also be pub- 

 lished one or two supplementary 

 plates, including one showing the 

 pearls orhea.dingo£theAmp/Hpieura, 

 for which an additional charge will 

 be made. 



Subscribers to the Synopsis will be 

 promptly informed of the time of pub- 

 lication and the price. 



NOTES. 



— We have received two beautiful pre- 

 parations of plant-hairs from Mr. James 

 E. Whitney, of Rochester, N. Y., who has 

 given considerable attention to them and 

 has a large collection, embracing thirty 

 different forms. The hairs on leaves are 

 often very beautiful objects, and there is 

 such great variety in their form and ar- 

 rangement that they afford an endless 

 source of delight to the microscopist who 

 undertakes their study. The specimens 

 sent by Mr. Whitney are from A/yssum 

 saxati/e and Solaniim stacagnifoliuni (.?). 



— The supplementary volume of the 

 Tijdschrift der Nederlandsche Dierkun- 

 dige Vereenighig just received contains 

 an extended account of experiments in 

 oyster culture, principally conducted by 

 Dr. P. P. C. Hoek and Dr. A. A. W. 

 Hubrecht. It also contains contributions 

 by other authors to the knowledge of the 

 fauna of the Oosterschelde (a gulf of the 

 North Sea), including the Crustacea, bryo- 

 zoa, coelenterata and protozoa. The 

 latter is by Dr. J. Van Rees, and is illus- 

 trated by a plate. The volume is of 

 great value, the more important articles 

 being printed in French as well as in the 

 language of the country. It makes a 

 large book of about 450 pages and 16 

 plates. 



— Dr. L. Younghusband, of Detroit, 

 informs us that he has received a letter 

 from Dr. Koch, of Berlin, accompanied 

 by a mounted preparation of the comma 

 bacillus, which Dr. Koch regards as the 

 cause of Asiatic cholera. It is of interest 

 to know where an authentic preparation 

 of this organism can be found. 



— Mr. Van Ermengem has observed 

 that certain bacteria, at the period of 

 sporulation, if treated with staining agents 

 such as are used in staining Bacillus tit- 

 bcrcidosis, become double stained. In 

 Bacillus subtilis, for example, treated by 

 Ehrlich's method, the spores become 

 stained red and the rest blue. Fine and 

 very interesting preparations can thus be 

 made. These facts of double coloration 

 have been previously observed by Bien- 

 stock. 



— The function of the green coloring 

 matter in the pseudo-chlorophyll bodies 

 of Hydra viridis is still unknown. Re- 

 cent experiments by Von Graff lead to 

 conclusions directly opposed to the sup- 

 position that these bodies assist nutrition. 

 Hydras kept in filtered water died after a 

 certain period, apparently from want of 

 animal food. The chlorophyll bodies do 

 not lose their color when kept in the dark, 

 even for a hundred days or longer. 



— The February number of Scie7ice 

 Gossip contains the following announce- 

 ment : — 



' Mr. Wm. Taylor has brought out a 

 simple and clean method of using balsam. 

 It is inclosed in compressible metal tubes, 

 like those containing moist colors, so that 

 the smallest quantity can be expelled at 

 will' 



This will be news to those who have 

 used balsam in this way for a decade or 

 more. 



— Some very suggestive observations 

 on the action of pathogenic microbes in 

 the blood have been made by E. Metsch- 

 nikoff. He found a daphnia affected 

 by a fungus which eventually was fatal in 

 its attacks. By inoculating healthy daph- 

 nia he was able to trace the progress of 

 the disease by studying the acdon of the 

 fungus on the blood-corpuscles. In the 

 first place the spores were attacked by 

 the corpuscles and destroyed. Soon the 

 blood-cells showed signs of injury and 

 some of them burst, setdng free gonidia 

 of the fungus. Thus the blood-cells were 

 destroyed, in greater number as the dis- 

 ease progressed. It thus appears that the 

 disease is a struggle between two living 



