Short Papers and Notes. Vd 
of which compose an unbroken series between the unspecialised 
ancestral type and the familiar modern creatures. Thus, in this 
very case of the horse, Professor Marsh has discovered a long 
line of fossil animals which lead in direct descent from the 
extremely un-horse-like eocene type to the developed Arab of our 
own times. Similarly with birds, Professor Huxley has shown 
that there is hardly any gap between the very bird-like lizards of 
the lias and the very lizard-like birds of the oolite. 
Short Papers and Notes. 
Al few Good Objects for the Microscope. 
HIS short paper does not in any way pretend to give a 
complete list, but merely a few objects of general 
interest, say, for a social evening. A transverse section 
of Laburnum wood, when mounted in balsam without 
any previous soaking in turpentine, shows the different 
shades of colour, from red and yellow to the palest amber, inter- 
mixed with brown, is very pleasing ; sections of Deal, Rhubarb, 
scales of the Sulphur and Cabbage Butterflies, a Goldfinch and 
Lark’s Feathers, Elder-pith, Palates of Molluscs, the tongue of which 
forms the floor of the mouth, and the front part, which is the only 
part in use, is frequently curved and bent quite over, and its teeth 
are often broken and blunted; the posterior portion descends 
obliquely behind the mouth, and its edges are united to form a 
tube, and enclosed in a membranous sheath, which opens gradu- 
ally as the part is brought forward to replace the worn portion. 
The most simple way to prepare these as microscopic objects, is 
to boil the head of the mollusc in a solution of potash in a test- 
tube, by which all the parts, with the exception of the tongue and 
jaw, are dissolved ; care must be taken to thoroughly wash the 
tongue before mounting. The most instructive method is 
undoubtedly that of dissection. The head should be pinned 
down in a gutta-percha trough, or on a piece of leaded cork, 
containing water enough to cover the part. The floor of the 
mouth may be laid open by passing the lower point of a pair of 
scissors into the mouth, and cutting upwards ; now pin back the 
severed portions, and by aid of a lancet or needle, work out the 
lingual apparatus. The ribbon should be cleaned by washing 
with a camel’s-hair brush, or by soaking in potash-water ; if the 
latter, wash the tongue /Aoroughly before mounting. ‘The prepara- 
tion may be mounted in glycerine, or, if intended as an object 
for the polariscope, it should be mounted in Canada balsam. 
V. A. LATHAM. 
