ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 141 



cover, and are inferior both in simplicity and utility to the following 

 plan. 



Cut a piece of suitable size from a flat rubber ring, fix this, by a 

 large-headed pin cut short, on to the end of a cedar-stick, driving the 

 head of the pin so as to form a depression in the rubber, wet the rubber, 

 and on pressing it on a cover-glass it will adhere to it, and the glass 

 may be manipulated as desired. To disconnect the rubber from the 

 glass, it is merely necessary to incline the stick so as to detach the 

 rubber at one edge, when the adhesion ceases at once. The apparatus 

 is more durable if a little cementing material be used on the stick, as 

 the pin sometimes draws through the rubber. 



A cover can be readily placed flat on a slide, and picked up again if 

 necessary, and when examining objects in fluid, the cover-glass can be 

 put on and taken off very readily. In most cases the necessity for 

 tilting the cover is avoided. 



Mounting Clip. — In using the ordinary clips Mr. J. C. Douglas 

 says that he has experienced great inconvenience from the difficulty of 

 moving the slide round while in the clip to apply varnish to the whole 

 circumference of the cover-glass, and the ordinary clips mostly hide 

 the object so that it cannot be properly examined during the pro- 

 cess of mounting. Mr. Woodward's device* has the disadvantage of 

 keeping the slide on the turntable until the varnish sets, so that the 

 turntable cannot be used for a number of slides in succession. 



Mr. Douglas takes a piece of stout brass wire and bends it into the 

 shape shown in Fig. 24. The ring is as large as the largest cover- 



FiG. 24. 



glass, so that it does not obscure the object ; the pressure is readily 

 regulated by bending the wire, and the point of the wire comes in the 

 centre of the ring. The length of the clip is such as to admit of the 

 slide, held between the end of the wire and the ring, revolving round 

 the end of the wire. The end of the wire is rounded. 



The mode of using the clip is as follows : — The cover-glass being 

 in position, and gently pressed down, the slide is placed in the clip, 

 in which it can be washed, examined, the edge of the cover-glass 

 varnished, &c. ; the holding coats of varnish are put on by hand, 

 revolving the slide in the clip as necessary. 



Arranging Diatoms, &c.| — The arrangement of small micro- 

 scopic objects, such as diatoms, Foraminifera, &c., on slides in regular 



* See this Journal, iii. (1880) p, 507. 



t Mr. J, Deby, in Journ. Quek. Micr. Club, vi. (1880) p. 166. 



