1899] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 251 



tory and the museum. In the case of marine animals the 

 use of alcohol in inexperienced hands is often attended 

 with unsatisfactory results, and this for .several reasons. 

 On thick-walled animals, particularly those provided with 

 chitinous envelopes, this reagent acts prejudicially on the 

 internal organs, while in the case of the smaller Crustacea 

 it gives rise to precipitates in the body fluids which fre- 

 quently prevent a satisfactory dissection of the parts be- 

 ing made. It has also been found in practice that alco- 

 hol tends to fix the sea-water contaiued in the organism, 

 and thus, by forming a crust, prevents both the harden- 

 ing and the staining fluids from penetrating the tissues. 

 With proper precautions there are, however, few re- 

 agents which give better results. The method employed 

 in the Marine Biological Laboratory at Naples is worth 

 the attention of those whose efforts with alcohol have 

 not always been so successful as they may have desired 

 them to be. To kill, let us say, an annelid, the animal is 

 transferred to a beaker containing sea-water. A few 

 drops of alcohol are added, and this is repeated at short 

 intervals until the animal expires. The tentative method 

 of killing neither causes contraction nor distortion of the 

 parts. The animal dies slowly, and, when dead, is so 

 supple that it may be readily arranged in any desired posi- 

 tion. The main point is to avoid the mistake, usually 

 made, of killing in strong grades of spirit. After death 

 the specimen may be passed through the various grades 

 of alcohol in the usual way. 



HoNEYDEW. — The popular theory regarding "honey- 

 dew" is that it is an excretion from aphides. Mr. H. W. 

 Brice has recently made a microscopical examination of 

 the substance, and has arrived at the conclusion that the 

 popular theory is fallacious. Under the microscope some 

 thickly-coated leaves of the lime and sycamore revealed 

 not more than three or four insects per leaf. These in- 

 sects were removed, and an hour afterwards the beads of 



