1881.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOUEiVAL. 



19 



sam angle ; by Mr. Warnock with a ^ 

 of 1879, glycerin-immersion 100° balsam 

 angle ; by Mr. Hyatt with a Gundlach 

 ^ just made, said to be of 140° balsam 

 angle, the immersion fluid being Sulpho- 

 Carbolate of Zinc ; and by Mr. Mead, 

 with a Zeiss | homogeneous immer- 

 sion, of May,1880, 113° balsam angle and 

 a Powell and Lealand water-front | of 

 1877. Mr. Shultz, with a Spencer pro- 

 fessional ^ (intermediate series) immer- 

 sed in a mixture composed of glycerin and 

 water, in equal j^arts, showed the lines on 

 Nitzchia curvula in balsam. In every 

 instance the lines were plainly visible. 



Insects' Eggs furnished the subject for 

 December 3d, and Messrs. Shultz, Braman, 

 Julien, Bogert and others, entertained 

 the members with a fine display. The 

 President read a pa;-;er on '• Cells, their 

 Growth and Functions " being the preli- 

 minary one on the subject. The general 

 characteristics of animal and vegetable 

 cells were described. 



At the meeting of December 17th, Mr. 

 Hyatt, exhibited and described two rock 

 sections, one cut from a boulder of the 

 Westchester Drift, composed almost en- 

 tirely of Foraminifera, the interest in 

 which arose from the locality where it 

 was found, in Westchester County, remote 

 from any known foraminiferous deposit. 

 The other, was cut from a conglomerate 

 of sand and shells, in a matrix of iron, 

 supposed to owe its origin to an iron nail, 

 lying on and at the bottom of a river. 

 Mr. Shultz exhibited and described a wood- 

 ant mounted without pressure ( shown 

 under polarized light) and directed atten- 

 tion to the clearly defined muscular sys- 

 tem of the insect. The subject of the 

 meeting being Insects and their parts, 

 many objects of this nature were exhibited. 

 Messrs. Braman, Hyatt and others, dis- 

 cussed the question of the purposes of 

 bristles on the hairs of the antennai of 

 insects, and also the subject of the attrac- 

 tion of male to female moths under the 

 influence of odors emanating from the 

 latter. Mr. Braman had calculated the 

 number of molecules, in the smallest space 

 visible to the unassisted human eye. This 

 space (the ^^^ of an inch according to 

 Ehrenberg)cubed, contained about 7,500,- 

 000,000,000,000 molecules. Dr. Deems said 

 that he had observed in the stomach of a 

 living bed-bug human blood-corpuscles, 

 and had noticed that these insects chose 

 as a favorite spot for their attacks, the 

 sweat pores. The President alluded 

 again to the advantages of Carbolic Acid 



as a mounting medium. He also said 

 that except for special purposes, mounting 

 insects under pressure was likely to be- 

 come a thing of the past, in view of the 

 superior opportunities for study, presented 

 by mounting them in living attitudes. He 

 described and illustrated by drawing, the 

 process of multiplication of a species fresh- 

 water alga the Coloeochcete scutata. 



W. H. Mead, Secfy. 



WELLESLEY COLLEGE. 



The second regular meeting of the 

 Wellesly College Microscopical Society for 

 the College year, was held Monday even- 

 ing, December 18th, with the President, 

 Miss Hayes, in the chair. The following 

 subjects were presented : A paper on 

 the Yeast-Plant, by Miss D. F.Waterman, 

 iilusirated with ( rawings. A paper on 

 the Detection of Forgery by means of the 

 microscope, by Miss E. Hurll. Professor 

 Nunn gave an account of a discovery she 

 had lately made of Amoebae in a remarka- 

 ble way, from an infusion of the yolk of 

 hen's &^g in Pasteur's fluid. In about 

 ten days, when the odor of decomposition 

 had become quite strong, Amoebas were 

 found in such great abundance as to 

 form a creamy deposit on the surface 

 of the liquid ; and a drop examined 

 from any part of the fluid, showed hun- 

 dreds on the field. They varied a great 

 deal in size, and had a remarkably active 

 and amoeboid movement. Generally a 

 nucleus could be distinctly seen. They 

 seem not to make their appearance in 

 water and t.%% alone, and apparently 

 flourish best when ammonium tartrate is 

 replaced by pepsin. Their whole history, 

 whether they originate from white or yel- 

 low yolk, and in what manner, has not 

 been ascertained ; but it would seem 

 that the matter involves questions of con- 

 siderable interest. 



There were shown, under the micro- 

 scope, specimens of yeast-plant, also a 

 genuine and a forged signature, in which 

 the difference could be distinctly seen. 



L. F. Clarke, Cor. Secretary. 



CENTRAL NEW YORK. 



The Society met at the office of Dr. 

 Aberdein, in Syracuse, on the evening of 

 November 30th, with a good attendance. 

 The members of the Society had the pleas- 

 ure of meeting Dr. Clifford Mercer, editor 

 of the micro-photographical section of the 

 last edition of Beale's ''How to Work with 

 the Microscope." Dr. Mercer brought 

 with him his No. 3 Powell & Lealand 



