NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 51 
4 k PE EEE 7 3 y TAPE } dè a Tiat y 
these tiny creatures, v i table obstacles to p ghi 
investigations beyo mde a narrow limits. The only way is to go to the fountain head at 
ones, to vo poe aed oneself miary w iih the purrente at all hours or the tide and under all pos- 
ibl f wind; to opposite currents meet, and throw into 
long bands the Wealth of animal life they have swept along; to virbaciat so perfectly familiar 
with what you may expect to find u od =e conditions, that no ams Shan be = 
in looking for the most favorable would only if 
dentally. The habitat of the adult animals should be c arefully L 1, so that 4 surface 
dredging with the fine gauze hand-net in the vicinity of their abodes, and by a close atten- 
tion tò the direction which the eres take from these — at the mer = breeding we 
can often obtain specimens at all a nd of all sizes, till t nomadic 
or have assumed the habits they ect in their adult consists: 
NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
Meret Score 
BOTANY. 
THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE ANTHER OF FLOWERS.—Dr. Miiller 
read a memorandum of the monstrosities which he had met with in the 
flower and fruit of Me Jatropha pohliana, and deduced therefrom some 
conclusions on the theory of the anther. He thinks that this is formed 
neither by the hora of two ordinary leaves, nor by a leaf whose 
edges are incurvated towards the median rib, so as to form the two 
chambers of the pollen. He believes that the anther represents only a 
single leaf, and that the pollen is developed in the incrassated tissue 
of the parenchyma of this leaf.— Report of the Transactions of the Soci- 
ety of Physics and Natural History of Geneva, 1868-5. Smithsonian Re- 
8 
IOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE CALABAR BEAN.—Dr. Dor read a 
memoir on the apaa effects of the bean of Calabar, Physo- 
stigma venenosa. Studied specially in its effects on the eye, this sub- 
nce produces contraction of the pupil, and occasions a sort of cramp 
of the accomodator muscle. In this double relation it acts as an an- 
ina.— Ibid. 
SKI ves.—The following method has bhen communicated 
to the Ria ahead Society of Edinburgh :—“‘A solution of caustic soda is 
made by dissolving 3 oz. of washing soda in 2 pints of boiling water, 
and adding 14 oz. of quick lime, previously slacked; boil for ten mi- 
nutes, decdnt the clear solution and bring it to the boil. During ebul- 
lition add the leaves; boil briskly for some time—say an hour, occa- 
sionally adding hot water to supply the place of that lost by evapora- 
tion. Take out a leaf and put into a vessel of water, rub it between 
the fingers under the water. If the epidermis and parenchyma sepa- 
