| Scientific News. (January, 
better effect than from turpentine. By the aid of heat the mounting can 
be accomplished almost immediately. Zodphytes, after boiling in water 
to remove the air, can be successfully mounted in the same manner, being 
transparent and flexible, instead of brittle as by the ordinary turpentine 
process. 
Eccentric Prra or Crimping Prants. — Mr. J. B. Hyatt of Mor- 
risania, exhibited at a meeting of the Torrey Botanical Club a microscopic 
specimen consisting of a section of the stem of poison ivy, Rhus Toxico- 
dendron L., and having the pith near one side “like a hole bored near the 
edge of a coin.” A similar structure is seen in some other climbing 
stems, as of Ampelopsis, though {not in all such; and the editor of the 
Bulletin suggests, as a mere conjecture, that the extraordinary one- 
sided thickening may indicate that the plant is nourished by the root- 
lets imbedded in the bark of the tree. 
a 
SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
— The Department of the Interior has issued a circular, prepared by 
Professor Otis T. Mason, designed to direct the attention of the agents 
of the Indian Bureau and others to the collection of objects and infor- 
mation for the purpose of representing at the Centennial Exposition the 
history of culture among the aborigines of America, including the tribes 
now in existence and those which are nearly or quite extinct. 
— We regret exceedingly to hear of the untimely death of Dr. Wil- 
lemées Siihm, the amiable and accomplished naturalist of the Challenger 
party. He was a student and assistant of Professor Siebold, of Munich, 
when invited to accompany Professor Wyville Thompson. American 
naturalists may remember his cordial and hospitable spirit. He was a 
special student of the lower worms and the crustacea. 
— At the opening meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, Novem- 
ber 15th, Sir H. Rawlinson refetred with great satisfaction to Stanley’s 
exploration of the Nyanza, and exhibited a complete chart of the lake, 
drawn by Stanley. 
— Dr. Francisco Todaro from his studies on the tunicate, Salpa, de- 
clares that it has an amnion, and is ‘developed in a true uterus. 
— A suggestive article entitled Consciousness in Evolution, by Pro- 
fessor Cope, has been reprinted from the Penn Monthly for August. 
that it can be taught with as much ease and profit as even botany. 
— In American Geological Surveys, by Professor Geikie, in Nature 
