34 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [February, 



excursion be placed in a vial of fresh, cool, clear sea-water, not much 

 larger than the colony, and be carefully watched until the tentacles of 

 the zooides project w^ell, the immediate application of a dropping tube 

 full of picro-sulphuric acid will kill them with tentacles expanded and 

 in natural position. The description is accompanied with a drawing, 

 showing Hydrauth, Hydrotheka, etc. 



No. 4, by Dr. A. M. Wright, of Troy, is a fine large section of Oolite, 

 or Roestone, from Princeton, Ky., mounted in balsam. 



No. ^ is a section of the stem of clover with its parasitic dodder, by 

 Joseph McKay, of Troy. " The dodder is a leafless twining plant, re- 

 sembling fine wet catgut, and this species does great injury at times to 

 clover fields. The seeds germinate in the ground, and the young stem 

 coming in contact with the living stem of the clover plant, throws out 

 a sucker which penetrates and commences to absorb the sap from its 

 host. As the plant grows fresh suckers are thrown out, and the origi- 

 nal root in the ground dies and drops off." 



No. 6, by Frank Richie, Troy, leaf bud of basswood, unbleached sec- 

 tion, longitudinally through young stem, bud, and base of leaf stem. 

 It is mounted in spruce gum in alcohol, and the cements used are shel- 

 lac and Prince's metallic paint, finished with hai'd oil. This slide also 

 is accompanied with a drawing. 



Box bx T. — This is an installment of the Cole Studies. Sufiicient 

 care has not been bestowed on paging the accompanying text, and the 

 consequent confusion detracts from the interest of the studies. 



.Slide 1 is '' Root of Dock." After quoting from Thome and McNab 

 as to the functions of both the higher and lower plants, plant roots are 

 described. The root of a plant is an organ growing downward into 

 the soil, whose apex is protected by a root cap, and whose function is 

 to anchor the plant and absorb nourishment for it from the surrounding 

 soil. Roots are of two kinds, the true roots, which are formed from the 

 downward growth of the radicle of the embryo, and adventitious roots, 

 which always arise from the outside of the woody ring, and, bursting 

 through the cortex, escape. In length, roots grow by a mass of living 

 cells at their tips ; in thickness, by a layer of cambium. Roots vary in 

 their mode of growth and functions : some roots function as reservoirs 

 of nutrition, as those of our succulent vegetables. Orchids sometimes 

 form both aerial and tuberous roots, the former acting as organs of ab- 

 sorption, and the latter as reservoirs of nutrition. 



As to the microscopical characteristics of ropts. " In young roots, 

 just behind the tip, the wood and bast are arranged in difterent radii 

 with a cambium layer between them ; as new wood and new bast are 

 formed, the former is driven inward toward the comparatively more 

 rapid growth of the cambium, whilst by the same agency the bast is 

 pushed out toward the circumference." The bitter root of the dock 

 being strongly impregnated with sulphur, is a powerful anti-scorbutic. 



Slide No. 3 shows " Htemorrhagic Infarction in kidney of Infant," 

 and though no doubt of value to the medical members, possesses little 

 interest for the general student. 



