1891.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 103 



the surface of a calm sea in sunny weather. In the aquarium they rise 

 to a height of four inches from the bottom, and by means of their 

 pseudopodia, as they cling to the front glass. They multiply very fast 

 and could be collected in aburTdance from the sand. The foraminifer- 

 ous shells collected at the sea-side, containing, .as they do, the living 

 animal, require cleaning ; this is best done by boiling in strong potash 

 solution, which dissolves the sarcode of the animals without injuring 

 the shells ; then, after repeated washings to clear away the alkali, they 

 may be dried and picked out with a stiff' bristle slightly moistened in 

 the mouth ; they may thus be transferred to the cell in which they are 

 to be permanently mounted. As they require fixing to the bottom of 

 the cell, and as gum solution is inadmissible in all dry mounts, the cell 

 must be lightly painted with a varnish made oi genuine asphaltum. For 

 mounting the foraminifera on it, the}' merely require placing, and the 

 temperature of the slide being slightly raised, the shells become, as it 

 were, glued by their under surfaces to the slide by the thin layer of the 

 asphaltum, without its flowing up and over their sides, which fre- 

 quently occurs with other black varnishes. If the recent foraminifera 

 are placed in a very weak solution of hydrochloric acid, the shells, which 

 are composed of carbonate of lime, are dissolved away from the en- 

 closed sarcodic bod}'. This, after washing, may be stained and mounted 

 in the glycerine and camphor-water mixture. The chalk of the cliffs 

 abounds in these beautiful objects in fossil condition, together with 

 the testce- of different varieties of entomostraca. These can be liberated 

 by the chalk being brushed under water in a hand-basin, using a rather 

 soft nail-brush, which, by the gradual disintegration of the chalk, the 

 foraminifera are separated without much damage, and can be picked 

 out of the detritus and mounted. Some clays abound in foraminif- 

 era, and may be separated by making the clay thoroughly hot and 

 plunging it into water. Then by repeated washings clear away all the 

 particles till the sediment, consisting of sand and shells, remains. They 

 require after this a great deal of careful cleaning, even with the potash 

 solution, to get them quite clean. This is a troublesome process, and 

 one which the student, perhaps, may not care to follow out. To those 

 who would make themselves familiar with these forms of microscopic 

 life without the trouble entailed in the process just mentioned, the author 

 would recommend a visit to the bins of some dealer in Turkey sponge, 

 when he may probably be favored with a quart of the sand which drops 

 from the sponges. The sand being sifted away through muslin sieves, 

 will leave a choice residue of many forms of foraminifera, besides the 

 small spines of Spatangus and the Echiuoidea generally. The fora- 

 minifera may be picked out with the bristle, or sometimes this residue 

 may be sprinkled on the top of some water ; the heavier particles of sand 

 sink to the bottom, and the shells containing air float on the surface, 

 and may be skimmed ofl'and dried. 



By chipping flints, especially those of yellow color, the silicified out- 

 lines of foraminiferous shells, principally Textularia^ may often be 

 found associated with sponge spicules and gemmules, and the fossil 

 sporangia of the desmidiaceie, known as Zatithidia. To chip these 

 flints they must be held on a solid block of iron, and struck with the 

 sharp end of a hammer. If the blow brings off" an irregular lump, the 

 position of the flint must be changed, and a blow again given with the 



