14 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[J anuary, 



and medical student who would 

 use the microscope intelligently, 

 it will be an invaluable aid. 



In this connection we may refer 

 to the very valuable articles which 

 were announced in our prospectus, 

 as forthcoming. Some of them 

 will not appear immediately, but 

 the promises we have made will be 

 fultilled to the letter, and as early as 

 practicable. 



This editorial is already so long 

 that we can merely touch upon our 

 prospects. We will only add, that 

 the outlook is exceedingly en- 

 couraging. The encouragement we 

 have received, before the issue of 

 our first number, has exceeded our 

 expectations. If a corresponding 

 readiness to support the Journal 

 is shown by those who receive this 

 number, the first year of its exis- 

 tence w^ll prove successful beyond 

 all anticipation. We have rea- 

 son to congratulate ourselves for 

 the hearty reception which the 

 Prospectus has received ; and for 

 the very substantial evidence of con- 

 fidence in our representations and 

 management. 



It is our intention to increase the 

 size of the Journal, and to render 

 it more valuable and attractive in 

 every way, so soon as the subscrip- 

 tion-list is large enough to justify 

 the additional expense that w^ould 

 be thus incurred. In this way, we 

 hope to establish a periodical that 

 will more fully represent the status 

 and progress of microscopical in- 

 vestigation in America. 



In conclusion ; the Journal is 

 designed to further the interests of 

 microscopy in all branches of 

 science ; it favors every advance in 

 knowledge, every improvement in 

 objectives and the methods of 

 using them ; supports everything 

 within its sphere that is good, con- 

 demns what is not good, opposes 

 humbug and pseudo-science, and 



strongly advocates the adoption of 

 a micrometric unit, based on the 

 French metric system. 



Review. 



The August number of the 

 Journal of the Royal Microscopi- 

 cal Society contains several import- 

 ant articles ; two are by II. J. Car- 

 ter, F. R. S., the first describing a 

 " New Species of Excavating 

 Sponge, Alectona Jfillari : and a 

 New Species of RhapJiidotlieca^ 

 R. affinis;^'' the second is " On a 

 New Genus of Foraminifera, Aph- 

 rosina inforinis^ and Spiculation 

 of an Unknown. Sponge." A very 

 able paper by Professor Balbiani, 

 entitled " Observations on Notom- 

 mata Wemeckii, and its Parasitism 

 in the Tubes of Vaucheria " is 

 translated from the Annales des 

 Sciences Naturelles. The paper 

 opens with an historical summary, 

 from which we learn, that as early 

 as 1803 Yaucher observed peculiar 

 swellings upon Vaucheria, caused, 

 as he supposed, by the insect 

 named by Miiller Gyclsps lupula, 

 which he considered were similar 

 to the galls of the higher plants. 

 Several writers of later date ob- 

 served the same excrescences, but 

 Ehrenberg was the first to deter- 

 mine the nature of the animal 

 which had its origin within them. 

 He named it Notoni'mata Wer- 

 neckii; beyond this specific deter- 

 mination of the animal, we have 

 heretofore known very little about 

 it. As this curious rotifer may be 

 looked for by some readers of the 

 JouRNAi., we quote from the article 

 as follows : " On examining the 

 tubes of the Vaucheria ( V. terres- 

 tris), I distinguished on the greater 

 number two kinds of laterally 

 placed excrescences : — the one easi- 

 ly recognizable as the organs of 

 reproduction, from their character- 



