208 Scientific News. [Feb. 
are placed in the eosin solution, as in the case of mould-cul- 
ures 
For preparing the cultures, Pasteur’s or Mayer’s fluid, with 
pepsin [see Huxley and Ma rtin’s Practical Biology], but not 
containing more thei five per cent. of sugar, is heated with Ice- 
land moss until the mixture attains such a consistency that it 
will just solidify when cold (fifteen to thirty minutes). It is then 
filtered by means of a hot filter into small glass flasks, which are 
afterwards plugged with cotton-wool, and sterilized at 65° to 70° 
. by the ordinary method. When required for use, the mass 
is liquefied by gentle heat, poured on the slides, and allowed to 
solidify. The spores are sown by a needle-point, touched once 
to a mass of spores, and thereupon drawn across several films in 
SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
—W. Baldwin Spencer, of Lincoln College, Oxford, has been 
appointed to the chair of Biology in the University of Melbourne. 
He is a pupil of Professor BS: N. Moseley. He has published 
papers on the Armary organs of Amphipods and on the neuren- 
retains all of its optical structure, though it is probably not 
functional. 
—The Buffalo Society of Natural Science is at last provided 
with suitable quarters. It has long occupied rooms in the old 
building of the Young Men’s aese w of Buffalo, but they 
have been inadequate for the accommodation of the library and 
collections. The Young Men’s P Paa has also been cram 
for room, and a few years ago they began the erection of a new 
building, which has at last been completed, at a cost of about 
three hundred thousand dollars. It occupies a very eligible re 
