1881.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL 



59 



existence. We thought, at first, that it 

 was too valuable to be appreciated. 



— Teeth of Sargodon fotm'cus. Mr. 

 Charles Stodder is selling' some very in- 

 terestjnjf sections of fossil teeth from the 

 bone-breccia of the Penarth beds of 

 Wales. The teeth from this stratum 

 occur in various forms, but it has finally 

 been decided that they all belong to one 

 species. Those that are wedge-shaped 

 seem to have been used for cropping 

 algae, while the others covered the interior 

 of the mouth, like a pavement, and were 

 employed in crushing the food. The mi- 

 croscope has revealed their true nature, 

 and their structure is very beautiful. They 

 should be examined both with and with- 

 out polarized light. 



— In the Zcitschrift fiir Mikroskopte, 

 Prof. Leopold l)ii)i)le has a long article 

 entitled, " Remarks upon some Species of 

 Diatoms used as Test-objects," which is 

 illustrated by four lithograph plates. It 

 includes Navtcula rhomhoides, Ehr.. and 

 its variations, some forms of Grammaio- 

 phora, and the Nit2chia curvula of Mol- 

 ler's test-plate. 



— One of the oldest, and certainly the 

 most reliable and valuable, of the scientific 

 periodicals in the country is the American 

 yournal of Science, published at New 

 Haven, by Professors J. D. & E. S. Dana. 

 It was founded by Prof. B. Silliman, in 

 the year 1818, and closed its 120th vol- 

 ume in 1880; the full set, therefore, 

 contains in its articles, reviews and no- 

 tices, a good record of the results of 

 American scientific labor during the sixty 

 years of its existence. The subscription 

 price is $6.00 per year. 



— We have received from Mr. J. L. De 

 La Cour, of Camden, an excellent photo- 

 graph of a portion of a frustule of P. 

 angulatiim, taken by Mr. H. S. Fortiner 

 of that place, from one of Dr. Wood- 

 ward's photographs. The photograph is 

 a positive on glass, which was made to 

 use with a projecting lantern, for the pur- 

 pose of illustrating lectures. Mr. Fortiner 

 has jirepared a series of these slides, but 

 whether they can be purchased or not we 

 cannot say. They will certainly prove 

 very useful. 



—Dr. J. W. Edwards, of Mendota, 111., 

 reports six cases of trichiniasis, caused by 

 eating pork that was not thoroughly 

 cooked, four of which have terminated 

 fatally. 



—Messrs. J. W. Queen & Co., of Phila- 

 delphia, have recently issued a " Supple- 

 mentary Catalogue " of microscopical 

 apparatus which they have on hand. The 

 prices of which have been marked down, 

 so as to make quick sales. We notice a 

 Beck " Large Best Binocular " reduced 

 from $250 to $190 and another with 

 accessories, reduced from $885 to $230. 

 A number of objectives of the late firm of 

 C. A. Spencer & Sons, Gundlach, Tolles 

 and Queen, are offered at reduced prices, 

 and a list of objectives by Beck (1876), 

 are offered at prices about fifty per cent, 

 lower than those charged by the maker. 

 There are some excellent bargains of- 

 fered in this Catalogue. 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



/ ELMIRA. 



The regular meeting was held on Janu- 

 ary 27th. Dr. S. O. Gleason, the Presi- 

 den,t, in the Chair. 



Letters were read from the officers of 

 the American Society of Microscopists, 

 relative to holding the next National 

 in Elmira. 



Judge Davis then read his paper upon 

 the Hypothesis of Evolution. 



He disclaimed giving any ideas of his 

 own, simply relating in his own language, 

 and in a condensed form, that which he 

 has read upon evolution. Twenty years 

 ago, Darwin published his work on the 

 origin of species. Prior to that time, the 

 greater number of naturalists had be- 

 lieved that species were immutable, and 

 always continued the same, being sepa- 

 rate creations. The intention of Darwin's 

 book was to set forth a " theory," upon 

 which the chasms between species could 

 be bridged. Darwin formulated his hy- 

 pothesis of the mutability of species under 

 four fundamental first truths : 



1st. Variability; 2d. Atavism; 3d. 

 Struggle for Existence ; 4th. Survival of 

 the Fittest. 



The first two inhere in all organic 

 growth and reproduction. The third re- 

 lates to the conditions of this organic 

 growth, and the fourth to the inevitable 

 results which follow from the operations 

 of the first three. These were clearly ex- 

 pounded, and a large number of interest- 

 ing facts and illustrations of the tendency 

 of nature to vary the species, were given. 

 The causes that led to variations were 

 fully explained and entertainingly com- 



