36 



THE AMEEICAN MONTHLY 



[February, 



The Gregarina are single-celled, 

 tube-shaped organisms, with a firm 

 cuticula and liquid parenchyma 

 filled with granules, without a 

 mouth ; nourishment is taken in by 

 absorption through the walls of the 

 body. Tliey live as parasites in the 

 intestines of other animals, e. g., the 

 earth-worm, leech, snails, etc. One 

 of the most interesting of these 

 animals, Monocystis proteus, Stein, 

 lives in the body of Cyclops quadri- 

 cm'nis. If a Cyclops is subjected 

 to pressure at a time when the ova- 

 ries are filled with blue-black eggs, 

 these are forced out. Sometimes 

 there may be also seen to issue 

 some of these parasites, which were 

 difficult to observe at first, owing 

 to their color. The small, cylindri- 

 cal body, pointed in front, is con- 

 stantly changing its shape without 

 moving much from its position. It 

 is a periodical forward and backward 

 movement ; the entire body from 

 front to back swells and stretches, 

 whereby the most elegant, but con- 

 tinually changing outline is pro- 

 duced. As the little animal some- 

 times occurs accidentally free in the 

 water, it lias been described by sev- 

 eral observers as an infusorium, by 

 O. F. Miiller as Proteus tenax, by 

 Ehrenberg as Distigma tenax. Its 

 true nature was first made known 

 by Stein. 



EDITORIAL. 



This number will be sent to 

 many persons who are not sub- 

 scribers, but who are known to be 

 interested in scientific studies. We 

 hope that a large number of these 

 will send us their subscriptions, 

 especially the physicians, to whom 

 the Journal will certainly be of 

 great value. It costs but $1.00 per 

 year, and the subscription-list must 

 be a large one to make our enter- 



prise profitable at such a low price. 

 We consider that the success of our 

 undertaking is already assured, and 

 have to thank the microscopists of 

 the country for their very generous 

 and early support. 



Forth-coming Articles. 



We are obliged to ask the indul- 

 gence of our readers for postponing 

 our review of the expert-evidence 

 in the Hayden trial, which was 

 promised for this number. Dr. J. J. 

 Woodward has favored us with 

 some valuable notes relative to his 

 own testimony, but the report of 

 the Buffalo meeting of the A. S. M. 

 occupies so much space that these, 

 with much other interesting matter, 

 has to be withheld. We might, in- 

 deed, have condensed the account of 

 that meeting and brought it out in a 

 single number of the Jodknal, but 

 we thought that if the proceedings 

 were of sufficient account to demand 

 any special notice, they deserved to 

 be fully reported in a microscopical 

 journal. The address of the Presi- 

 dent, Dr. E. H. Ward, will be 

 found to embrace much that is in- 

 teresting, particularly that part 

 which embodies the results of his 

 personal observations. Among the 

 articles for publication which we 

 have on hand, or which are already 

 written, we may mention the fol- 

 lowing : 



The " Preparation and Mounting 

 of Objects," No. 1 of a series ; 

 " The Examination of Signatures ;" 

 " Hackel's Classification of the Pro- 

 tista," translated from the original 

 work ; " The Objectives which 

 Aiford the most Accurate Know- 

 ledge of Histology ;" " The Prepa- 

 ration and Mounting of Objects ;" 

 " A Mechanical Finger ;" " Obser- 

 vations on a Foetal Lung ;" " How 

 to Make the New Wax Cell;" 

 " How to Cut and Grind Glass 



