i88i-i88a.] 127 



The fifth meeting of the session was held in the Museum on 

 Tuesday evening, 21st March — the President, R. Young, Esq., 

 C.E., in the chair, when two communications were brought for- 

 ward. The first, by Mr. Wm. Gray, M.R.I.A., was on "Wax 

 Cells : a ready method of mounting objects for the microscope." 

 Mr. Gray commenced by stating that it was of the greatest 

 importance to microscopists to have a reliable, easily made cell 

 for mounting objects, either in the dry state or in a fluid. 

 After briefly noting the various kinds of cell in use, Mr. Gray 

 described, and illustrated by a variety of examples, a ready 

 method of mounting objects in wax cells. Having referred to 

 the method of using wax described by Mr. John Boyd before 

 the Manchester Microscopical Society, Mr. Gray illustrated by 

 experiment his simpler method, by which he was enabled to 

 form cells from the sheets of wax used for making wax flowers. 

 Cells of any size or depth may be punched from the sheet wax ; 

 the sheet of wax so punched may be fixed to a clean slide or 

 slip of glass by gentle heat. It may then be coloured by using 

 any of the usual varnishes, and when the object is placed in 

 position, the cell is covered with the usual thin covering glass ; 

 a heated iron run round the glass cover seals it in, and cuts off 

 the superfluous wax. The slide may be farther cleaned with 

 benzole, then ringed and finished according to the taste of the 

 operator. 



Mr. S. A. Stewart, F.B.S., Edin., then read a short paper, 

 entitled " Notes on Knockmore and Glangavlin." In this com- 

 munication Mr. Stewart gave an account of his recent visits to 

 the west of County Fermanagh and the north-west of Cavan, 

 referring especially to the geology and the botany of the region. 

 The geological structure of the country was shown to be of 

 considerable interest, the rocks exposed at the lower elevations 

 being the upper limestone of the Carboniferous system. On 

 these are superimposed thin black shales and thick-bedded 

 massive sandstones, the equivalents of the Yoredale beds, or in 

 some instances of the coal measures. The limestone in many 

 places appears as perpendicular cliffs that are sometimes pic- 

 turesque, but are not of sufficient magnitude to become imposing' 



