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SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



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MICROSCOPY 



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CONDUCTED BY F. SHILLINGTON SCALES, F.R.M.S. 



Formalin as a Preservative. — A 3 per cent, 

 solution of formalin is preferable to spirits of wine 

 for preserving certain species of insects, as it does 

 not affect their colours. I find, however, that 

 specimens so preserved and afterwards dried 

 deposit an oily dew, or in some cases crystals, on 

 the slide and cover-glass if mounted as dry objects 

 for the microscope. Washing appears to have little 

 or no effect. Can anyone tell me how to obviate 

 this without discolouring the specimens 1 — M G. 

 Wheler, Swansfield House, Alnwick. 



Manchester Microscopical Society. — The 

 Transactions and Annual Report of this Society for 

 1899 have reached us, and we again congratulate 

 the members on the work they have done, and on 

 their position. The Society is the most enterprising 

 and successful of any microscopical society in the 

 provinces, and well deserves its success. The 

 membership during the year appears to have been 

 well maintained. The Council speak of the attend- 

 ance and the interest in the meetings as being in 

 every sense satisfactory. The Extension Section 

 appears to have delivered no fewer than thirty-seven 

 lectures in the neighbourhood of Manchester during 

 the winter : by so doing they have benefited many 

 outside their own membership, and doubtless added 

 to the popularity as much as to the usefulness of 

 the Society. We commend this scheme of extension 

 to the notice of other societies, one of which, the 

 well-known Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, has,'we 

 believe, a similar scheme in hand. The President 

 of the Manchester Society for the year is Professor 

 Sydney J. Hickson, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S., of Owens 

 College, and his presidential address on zoo- 

 phytes is the first paper in the report. Perhaps the 

 most important paper is one by Mr. F. W. Gamble, 

 of Owens College, on il The Power of Colour-change 

 in Animals," a subject in which the author is 

 specially interested, and concerning which he and 

 Mr. F. W. Keeble have been able to make original 

 investigations. The most interesting papers to our 

 readers will be one on " Collecting Lepidoptera," 

 by Mr. H. G. Willis, from which we would have 

 liked to make extracts had space permitted, and 

 another on " Arboreal Aphidae," by Mr. A. T. 

 Gillanders. Amongst other papers we may parti- 

 cularise one on " Termites and Ants of West Africa," 

 by Mr. Mark L. Sykes, and another on " The Pol- 

 lination of Flowers," by Mr. Charles Turner. There 

 are several excellent plates. Mr. C. F. Rousselet's 

 •'Method of Preserving and Mounting Rotifera" is 

 given in full ; and as this method has been brought 

 prominently before microscopists, we reprinted it 

 in our last issue. The Report can be obtained, post 

 free for Is. 9d., from the Hon. Secretary, Mr. E'.JO. 

 Stump, IB Herbert Street, Moss Side, Manchester. 

 A list of the Extension Section's lectures can be 

 obtained from Mr. George Wilks, 56 Brookland 

 Street, Eccles New Road, Manchester. 



Swift's New Portable Microscope. — Messrs. 

 James Swift & Son have recently brought out a new 

 folding microscope for travelling, for bedside diagno- 

 sis, or for field work. It is furnished with both coarse 

 and fine adjustments, the latter being markedly 

 superior to those usually fitted to microscopes of 

 this type. The optical tube carrying the objectives 



Swift's Portable Microscope ix Case. 



is made to slide in its fitting so as to allow very 

 low power objectives to be used. There is a draw- 

 tube permitting of a total extension of tube-length 

 to 7 inches. The stage is larger than usual, and 

 carries a sub-stage ring fitted with Abbe condenser 

 and iris diaphragm. The back leg is divided so as 

 to pass over the fine adjustment screw when folded, 

 whilst the stage is hinged and lies flat against the 



Swift's Portable Microscope. 



body of the microscope. The microscope packs 

 thus into a leather case . about 9x3x3 inches, and 

 there is room for two objectives, live-box, small 

 bottle, and sundry minor apparatus, as shown in 

 our illustration. The whole microscope is beauti- 

 fully finished in bright brass, and is, we think, one 



