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Sunderland Microscopical Society. — The 

 annual meeting of this society was held on 

 November 19th. The annual report was read and 

 officers elected, after which Professor G. S. Brady, 

 LL.D., F.R.S., President, gave an address on 

 " Problems of Pond Life," in which he alluded to 

 the popular delusion that the microscopist who 

 studied pond life was only truly happy when he 

 found a foul, festering pool, covered with green 

 slime and giving off poisonous gases. What the 

 microscopist really sought for was a pond with 

 clear water and abundant vegetation. One of the 

 most interesting problems was as to where all the 

 animals in ponds get their sustenance. After 

 considering this question from various points of 

 view Professor Brady said he had arrived at the 

 conclusion that the lower forms of minute animal 

 life had the faculty of extracting sustenance from 

 the air and water, in a similar way to plants. 

 Professor Brady also gave his experiences in 

 connection with a dredging expedition which he 

 joined really to settle this problem, and for which a 

 special grant had been made by the Royal Society.- 

 They found that microscopic vegetable life did not 

 exist beyond about fifteen fathoms from the shore, 

 but they found myriads of minute animal organ- 

 isms, millions of them in a thimbleful of water. 

 Though reall_y animals, the} T probably lived in 

 vegetable fashion, absorbing their nutriment from 

 the water in which they lived. 



Postal Microscopical Society.— The Annual 

 Report for the session 1900-1901 records an im- 

 provement on the previous year, not only from the 

 financial point of view but in other details. The 

 number of boxes sent out has been considerably 

 increased, and the Hon. Secretary has felt justified 

 in purchasing a fresh stock of slides for the use of . 

 the Society, in addition to those contributed by 

 the members themselves. The rules of the Society 

 have been modified in some details. The member- 

 ship show's a slight increase, but we hope to see 

 this improved upon in the forthcoming year. 

 There are few amateur microscopists who would 

 not find membership in this Society both helpful 

 and stimulating. They would have the opportunity 

 of examining a large number of slides partly 

 professional, but mostly mounted by workers in the 

 same plane as themselves. The selected notes which 

 appear each month in these columns will show of 

 what nature are the remarks and explanations 

 accompanying such slides, and the subscription is 

 only 5s. per annum, with an entrance fee of 2s. 6d. 

 The Society needs money less than the help and 

 interest of those who are themselves interested in 

 microscopy, especially of those who are interested 

 in research of any kind, however humble. The 

 Hon. Secretary is Miss Florence Phillips, Hafod 

 Euryn, Colwyn Bay, North Wales. 



Journal op the Quekett Microscopical 

 Club. — The November issue of the "Quekett Club 

 Journal " has just reached us, and, as usual, con- 

 tains much interesting matter. There are two 

 papers, by Messrs. W. B. Stokes and Julius Rhein- 

 berg respectively, which deal with the much-dis- 

 puted question of diatom structure as exhibited by 

 the microscope. Mr. G. Massee describes a new 

 and little-known family of micro-fungi parasitic 

 on beetles, and which have been also sparingly ob- 

 served on white ants and acarids. The family is 

 known as the Laboulbeniaceae. They are con- 

 sidered to be non-injurious to their hosts, and in 



their sexual mode of reproduction agree very closely 

 with that of the Florideae or red sea-weeds. Like 

 these Algae, also, they are interesting in showing 

 with unusual distinctness the phenomenon known 

 as the "continuity of protoplasm," the com- 

 paratively recent observation of which has so 

 greatly modified the views formerly held, by which 

 the cell was previously regarded as a perfectly 

 closed vesicle with imperforated walls. Our know- 

 ledge of these fungi is due almost entirely to the 

 work of Dr. Roland Thaxter, of Harvard University, 

 who says of them : " When examined in situ on 

 the host they appear, in general, like minute, 

 usually dark-coloured or yellowish bristles or bushy 

 hairs, projecting from the chitinous integument, 

 either singly or in pairs, more commonly scattered, 

 but often densely crowded over certain areas, on 

 which they form a furry coating." Mr. Massee 

 calls attention to the fact that not a single species 

 has yet been recorded in this country, and reminds 

 the members of the Quekett Club, and with them 

 all workers with the microscope, that this field of 

 research offers a tempting opportunity to those 

 who have not yet settled down to the study of a 

 specific group. Mr. C. F. Rousselet and Mr. Walter 

 Wescheeach describe new rotifers, Metopidia solidus 

 and Trlarthra brachiata respectively. Mr. S. W. 

 Smith deals with the micro-structure of metals and 

 alloys and with their preparation, examination, and 

 photography ; and Mr. D. J. Scourfield's paper on 

 " Hydra and the Surface-film of Water" (alluded 

 to in these pages last month — ante, p. 209) is 

 printed in extenso. Mr. A. Ashe contributes an 

 interesting article on two-speed fine adjustments. 

 Various shorter notes, some excellent reviews by 

 Mr. D. J. Scourfield — the editor of the Journal — 

 and the usual reports of the proceedings of the 

 Club, complete the number. 



Preparing Insect Eggs.— As there has been 

 no reply to my queries (Mounting Methods, ante, 

 ■ p. 154) as to devitalising, preparing, and mounting 

 insect eggs, it would appear to be a department of 

 microscopical work in which much has not been 

 done by Science -Gossip readers, and, as a small 

 contribution to micro-technique, it is only fair that 

 I should relate my own recent experience. At 

 the time of writing I had a Vapourer moth, fresh 

 from the chrysalis, which was ovipositing unim- 

 pregnated eggs in the pill-box in which it was 

 brought to me. On the death of the moth I re- 

 moved about half the eggs still attached to the 

 white surface paper of the box. These were easily 

 removed by a thin knife-blade. Being still firmly 

 attached to the paper and to each other, they were 

 easily divided into two smaller masses. One group 

 I dropped into methylated spirit and the other 

 into turpentine. 1 allowed them to macerate for 

 a fortnight, when I removed them, still firmly fixed 

 to the paper and to each other. They were then 

 placed in a glass-topped box for another fortnight, 

 so that they might thoroughly dry. The question 

 was whether they would retain their plump ; natural 

 appearance,, and whether they would be affected 

 by the soaking, or would shrivel or collapse in the 

 drying process. At the end of the first week it 

 looked as though both batches would turn out right. 

 At the end of the second week those in the turpen- 

 tine remained absolutely unaltered, fresh, plump, 

 and fully distended, but the spirit-soaked batch 

 had nearly every egg more or less shrivelled, with 

 the upper face depressed or pulled down, as it 

 were, with the periphery more or less flattened 



