200 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY. 



[October. 



Wiard. Mounted in glycerin. Mr. 

 J. D. King writes : — ' If these had 

 been soaked in liquor potassa, fol- 

 lowed with alcohol and glycerin, and 

 mounted in a medium colored with 

 eosin, they would have been both 

 transparent and beautiful.' 



NOTES. 



— The best set of plates illustrating the 

 diatoms is undoubtedly those of Schmidt's 

 'Atlas der Diatomaceen-kunde,' a large 

 quarto work, of which 22 parts have been 

 pubhshed, embracing about 88 fine plates. 

 A set of these plates is now offered by a 

 reader of the Journal at considerably less 

 than cost, and any reader who may wish 

 to purchase the set may write to the Editor 

 for further information. The actual cost 

 of the plates as received is $49.28. 



— Mr. W. J. Simmons, in a communi- 

 cation to Science Gossip, describes a di- 

 atom in the fresh-water canals of Calcutta, 

 which resembles in its form and manner 

 of progression the Bacillaria paradoxa. 

 The same diatom has also been found in 

 the Lehigh River at Bethlehem, Pa., by 

 Rev. Francis Wolle. It appears, therefore, 

 that the species is not absolutely confined 

 to brackish water. 



— We have received six very fine 

 mounts of vegetable and animal prepara- 

 tions from Mr. Arthur J. Doherty, of Man- 

 chester, England, who has recently offered 

 sections cut and stained ready for mount- 

 ing, on one of our advertising pages. The 

 sectioils are evenly cut and stained perfect- 

 ly. An excellent opportunity is thus offered 

 to microscopists to obtain first-class sec- 

 tions for mounting. The specimens re- 

 ceived include sections of human spleen, 

 ovary of Rhododendron ponticum, root of 

 Rttbus fruticosus, and leaf of Ficus elas- 

 tic a. 



— We have received from Mr. A. B. 

 Leckenby, of Rochester, a combination 

 of a pencil case and a microscope, which 

 he has devised for the use of school 

 children in the study of botany. It con- 

 sists of a thin tube of brass to hold the 

 pencils, at one end of which is a lens 

 mounted in such a way that when drawn 

 out of the tube it is a simple microscope, 

 well adapted for studying seeds and parts 

 of plants, insects, etc. In addition to the 

 microscope pencil case, Mr. Leckenby 

 has prepared sets of fifty slides of seeds, 



neatly mounted on stiff paper, to accom- 

 pany it. The case and sets of seeds will 

 be a source of pleasure and instruction 

 to children, and also to persons more 

 advanced in life, for this little microscope 

 can reveal a world of beauty. 



— Entomologica Americana is an ex- 

 cellent monthly magazine covering the 

 whole field of entomology, published by 

 the Brooklyn Entomological Society. It 

 is a combination of the Btdletin of the 

 Society and Papilio. The editor is Mr. 

 John B. Smith, who is writing 'An Intro- 

 duction to a Classification of the N. A. 

 Lepidoptera,' now being published in the 

 magazine. 



— The report of the botanist of the 

 New York Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion, Prof. J. C. Arthur, for 1884, has re- 

 cently been published. It is a pamphlet 

 of about thirty pages, and contains much 

 interesting information concerning fungus 

 diseases of trees. The production of gum 

 on the limbs and trunk of peach, pear, 

 and other fruit-bearing trees, and also 

 upon the fruit itself, has received atten- 

 tion. The results of experiments indicate 

 that the abnormal production of gum is 

 caused by a fungus of some kind, possi- 

 bly a bacterum, but more likely a filamen- 

 tous fungus, not necessarily a single spe- 

 cies. The observations recorded in the 

 report indicate that a large field for inves- 

 tigation is open in connection with the 

 fungus affections of trees, fruits, and vege- 

 tables. 



— Dr. T. B. Redding has prepared a 

 report of ' Trichina spiralis and Trich- 

 inosis, including an examination of In- 

 diana Hogs,' under direction of the In- 

 diana State Board of Health. It seems 

 to be mainly a compilation from other 

 documents treating of the subject. There 

 is, however, a valuable bibliography of 

 the subject appended. The author ex- 

 amined 610 Indiana hogs and found 4^ 

 per cent, infected. Other observers found 

 from 4 to 12 per cent.; about Lawrence- 

 burg, of 245 hogs examined in 1875, ^^Vi 

 per cent, were infected, but this seems to 

 be an exceptionally infected locality. 



Exchanges. 



[Exchanges are inserted in this column without 

 charge. They will be strictly limited to mounted ob- 

 jects, and material for mounting,] 



Diatomaceous clay from this place, and fine slides 

 of Foraminifera, for fine slides, material or back num- 

 beJS of A. M. M. Journal. 



E. H. RICHARDS, 

 Woburn, Mass, 



