138 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY (July, 
nation was found to contain large numbers of the interesting infusorian Ceratiwm lon- 
gicorne. Some four years ago the water supply of this city contained enormous num- 
bers of the same little organisms. 
Mr. Wickson exhibited some eggs and insects found upon an apple tree by Dr. Ed- 
ward Gray, of Benicia, and sent by him to the society for determination. Mr. Wickson 
remarked that it would be difficult to identify a species by the egg and newly-hatched 
larve alone, unless one is very familiar with the forms. He said, however, that the insect 
was of the /eteroptera, a sub-order or division of the ZemzPfera, in which one pair of 
wings is thin and membranous and the other partly thickened and leathery. The 
heteroptera are divided into twelve families and the specimen sent probably belongs 
to the scutelleride, a family characterized in part by the sizeof the shield it bears upon 
its back. The larve shown had neither wings nor shield ; these parts appear later in 
the progress of the insect. The eggs shown were strikingly beautiful. They were oval 
in shape, attached to the bark by one end, while the upper end was either open—if 
the insect had hatched out—or still closed with its cap-like cover, if the larvee had 
not appeared. The eggs are of pearly-hue and had the appearance of frosted glass- 
ware. In the mouths of the eggs from which the larve had hatched there was 
to be seen the following peculiar arrangement, described by Kirby and Spence : 
‘ The egg of a Pentatoma is furnished not only with a convex lid, but with a lever 
of a horny texture, and in the form of a cross-bow, for opening it, the handle 
being fixed to the lower part of the egg by a membrane and the bow part to the 
lid. When the larva is ready to emerge the cap flies off the egg-case. In the 
specimen shown under the microscope some of the covers were shown as they had 
fallen off and were lodged on the bark. The eggs, etc., had been mounted by Mr. 
Wickson in a deep cell, which, although very simple, answered the purpose ad- 
mirably. It consisted of the neck and top flange of a homeopathic vial, the lower 
edge having been ground flat and cemented to the slide. 
Oo—_— 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
At the sixty-first regular meeting of the Society Dr. J. W. Blackburn presented a 
paper on methods of preparing tissues for microscopical study and brains for anatom- 
ical demonstrations.* Dr. Taylor said the ordinary freezing microtomes have too 
much brass work about them. The one shown does not seem to be liable to that ob- 
jection. He then described the freezing microtome devised by himself, in which the 
refrigerating agent is a mixture of salt and ice, and which is very economical in its 
workings. 
Prof. Seaman said that, in his opinion, the green wax shown was the true myrtle, 
or bay-berry wax, the yellow not. He was not certain as to composition of the latter, 
but would report at the next meeting. 
At the sixty-second regular meeting, June 14, 1887, Prof. Seaman made the follow- 
ing report upon the waxes shown at the last meeting. The green wax is myrtle wax 
and is described by G. E. Moore in S7//iman’s Journal, 1862, p. 313, It is known also 
as candle-berry wax and bay-berry tallow. Itis the product of Jyrica cerifera, and 
has a sp. gr. of 1.004-1.006. Fusion point 47-49 C. Soluble in too parts boiling 
alcohol to the extent of 5 per cent., boiling ether 25 per cent., oil of turpentine 6 per 
cent. Saponifies readily with caustic potash, and consists of palmitin and palmitic 
acid with a trace of lamic acid. 
The yellow waxis Japan wax, the product of RAws succedanea, a tree from eight to nine 
metres high, with a stone fruit the size of a pea, yellowish and with a fibrous pericarp 
containing the wax between its fibres. One tree yields as much as sixty pounds of 
fruit containing twenty-five per cent. of wax. It melts at from 53.5 to 54.5 C., and 
solidifies at from 40.5 to 41.5 C., the temperature rising thereby to 45.5 or 46.5 C. 
Becomes transparent at from ten to twelve degrees under its melting point, and on 
cooling melts afterward at 42 C. Various melting points have been assigned to it. 
Consists of C,5, Hy2.97, 017.93, With .o8 ash. Thirteen hundred tons of this wax were 
exported from Japan in 1874. 
The rest of the evening was given up to an exhibition of bacilli, a large number of 
slides being shown by Dr. White, covering nearly the whole list of known bacilli. 
E. A. BALOGH /tecnScate 
* This paper will be published in our August number.—Eb. 
