1884.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



33 



ing maintained by a pencil of radiat- 

 ing hairs attached to a short projection 

 at the end of tlie body. After shed- 

 ding the larval skin several times, in 

 two weeks they assume the pupal state 

 and become now tumblers. In this 

 stage the mosquito is quite a different 

 being ; it scorns food of all'sorts, and, 

 like some religious devotee, lives on 

 air alone and that in homoeopathic 

 doses, for the reason that all the ap- 

 paratus of its mouth is enveloped in 

 the pupal skin, and now instead of 

 breathing through its tail it bears two 

 club-shaped respiratory tubes, which 

 are situated on the site of the future 

 thoracic spiracles of the perfect gnat. 

 After passing a w^eek in this state 

 the pupa cracks along the back and 

 through the aperture the head and legs 

 appear, and finally the imago, which 

 shakes out its damp and crumpled 

 wings, and as soon as this is completed 

 the mosquito flies serenely away. 



EDITORIAL. 



Publisher's If Otices. — All communications, re- 

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 Editor, P. O. Box 630, Washington, D. C. 



Remittances should be made by postal notes, money 

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Subscription-price before April ist, $1 per year, in 

 advance. All subscriptions after this month begin 

 with the February number. After April ist the sub- 

 scription-price will be Ji. 50. 



The regular receipt of the Journal will be an ac- 

 knowledgment of payment. 



Special Notice. — Attention is 

 particularly called to the conditions 

 of subscription for the current year, 

 which, as ah-eady announced, must 

 be paid in advance. Also to the 

 change in price after the ist of April 

 from $1 to $1.50. We trust that 

 none of our former subscribei's will 

 defer payment and then complain 

 that they do not, as heretofore, re- 

 ceive the Journal. Having estab- 

 lished a rule, it miist act impartially, 

 and in opening the new subscription- 

 book no names will be entered until 

 payment is made. This number is 

 sent to former subscribers who have 

 not yet paid as a specimen number. 



Postal -Club Boxes. — Box V 

 comes to us with .six slides, all in 

 good condition. Slides 1-4 are from 

 Dr. A. W. Waterhouse, of James- 

 town, N. Y. ; 5 is from Mr. R. R. 

 Rogers, and 6 from Mr. Samuel G. 

 Love, of the same place. The first 

 is a preparation showing the sperm- 

 duct and ova-duct in a joint of a tape- 

 worm, in which the inale organ es- 

 pecially is well show^n. A few words 

 of description would have greatly 

 increased the intei'est of the object. 

 Indeed, the same maybe said of each 

 slide in the box, for not one of thein 

 has a word of description appended. 

 The sperm-duct is the coiled tube 

 distinctly seen in the specimen. The 

 ova are irregularly scattered through 

 the specimen. It should be remem- 

 bered that the tape-worm has no spe- 

 cial digestive apparatus ; it absorbs 

 all its nutriment through the superfi- 

 cial envelopes of the body. 



Slides 2 and 3 are plant sec- 

 tions, both of which are too thick — 

 a fault which we should attribute, 

 from their appearance, to a dull knife 

 rather than to want of skill on the 

 part of the preparer. The section of 

 Calla shows this defect about the 

 margin, where the cells are spread 

 out laterally by the pressure of the 

 cover-glass. This is, indeed, a diffi- 

 cult section to prepare, as it must be 

 made very thin, and unless the knife 

 be very sharp the soft, internal parts 

 will be torn. 



Slide 4 shows the cuticle of the 

 petal of Gladiolus^ which needs a de- 

 scription to make it worthy of spe- 

 cial notice. The pollen of the moun- 

 tain ash on the next slide would be 

 far more interesting if mounted in a 

 medium of less refractive power than 

 damar. Castor oil is a good medium 

 for pollen. The last slide shows a 

 transverse section of the gizzard of a 

 turkey, in which the " horny papillae 

 of the lining membrane " are well 

 shown, although a better preparation 

 would be cut thinner. 



Box K passed into this circuit Janu- 

 ary 24th, containing five slides. 



