NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



147 



water. Now, to stain, place in 

 czokors cochineal for 5 10 min- 

 utes, or in borax carmine for 15-30 

 minutes then transfer to one-fifth 

 per cent solution of Hydrochloric 

 acid for a few minutes or until the 

 color commences to fade. Then 

 wash or rinse in water; place in 30 

 per cent alcohol for 15 minutes; 

 50 per cent alcohol for 20 minutes; 

 70 per cent alcohol for at least 20 

 minutes and then into 95 per cent 

 alcohol for at least one hour. This 

 is to extract the water from the 

 specimens. The, next step is to 

 replace all the water and alcohol 

 by some fluid which will produce 

 a clear mixture with Canada Bal- 

 sam. Such a "clearing" fluid may 

 be made up of three parts spirits 

 of turpentine and one part of pure 

 carbolic acid. The specimens 

 must soak in this till they become 

 transparent and clear. They are 

 then placed on a slide, a drop or 

 two of balsam added, and covered 

 by a cover glass of suitable size. 

 Your specimen is then ready for 

 examination, and as soon as the 

 balsam hardens it may be labeled 

 and put away as a permanent pre- 

 paration. If the specimen is not 

 perfectly transparent it must be 

 placed back in the 95 per cent al- 

 cohol for a few hours and then 

 again soaked in the turpentine 

 clearing solution till transparent. 



It may be necessary to compress 

 thick specimens between two slips 

 of glass, and confine by a rubber 

 band while being carried up through 

 the alcohol series. 



Some Nematodes may be soaked 

 in pure glycerine for a few days 

 and then mounted in glycerine 

 jelly. 



Recipes: 



Borax Carmine. Carmine, one- 

 gram; borax, four grams; distilled 

 water, 100 cubic centimeters. Mix 

 and allow to stand for 24 hours. 

 To this solution add 100 cubic cen- 

 timeters of 70 per cent alcohol. 

 Allow to stand and use the clear 

 fluid. 



Czokors Alum Cochineal Take 

 seven parts of burnt alum and 

 seven parts of finely powdered 

 cochineal and boil in 700 parts of 

 distilled water till only 400 parts 

 of the solution remain. Add 

 enough carbolic acid to give a dis- 

 tinct odor and filter two or three 

 times. At the end of six months 

 add a little more carbolic acid and 

 refilter. 



Canada Balsam. This is the 

 clearest grade of Fir balsam and it 

 may be used in the form obtained 

 from the drug stores, but is better 

 if treated as follows: Evaporate 



over a water bath until the residue 

 is hard on cooling. Dissolve this 

 in benzol, or xylol, until the solu- 

 tion is about as thick as ordinary 

 "sugar drip" sirup. Keep in a 

 tightly corked bottle. 



Will C. Hall. 

 Creston, la. 



How I Became a Conchologist. 



"Here are a lot of shells from 

 Labrador," said my teacher, turn- 

 ing out a very miscellaneous as- 

 sortment which had just been sent 

 in by some explorer. Separate 

 them into two groups, putting all 

 that have one valve into a box, and 

 all that have two into another." I 

 proceeded to divide them as direct- 

 ed, for I could count as high as 

 two at least, and that, with the use 

 of my eyes, was all that was nec- 

 essary for my first lesson in conch- 

 olpgy. 



"Now take those in the first box 

 and compare them with one anoth- 

 er. Count how many turns each 

 one makes from the point to open- 

 ing." So I began to compare them 

 and soon found that they were all 

 made on the same general plan, 

 with many varieties; that each had 

 a spire composed of more or fewer 

 whorls, and an aperture either 

 round or elongated into a canal. 



After this my teacher recom- 

 mended me to stud)' "Woodward's 

 Manual," which I did with much 

 interest and profit. How well I 

 remember the figure of Strombus, 

 with which I began, and how I 

 learned to search for the notch in 

 the outer lip, near the canal. To 

 this day the discovery of that fea- 

 ture in a shell gives me a peculiar 

 satisfaction. Then came Pteroceras 

 with horns, and the spiny Mtirex, 

 and Rostellaria from the Red Sea, 

 all of which became as well known 

 as the faces of the college boys 

 who sat around the table at my 

 boarding-place. 



My progress was not rapid, and 

 when it came to sub-genera, and 

 synonyms, and modern innova- 

 tions my anger was kindled, and I 

 longed for something that was fix- 

 ed and definite. I had not learn- 

 ed that a living and growing sci- 

 ence is better than one that is sup- 

 posed to be settled and finished. 

 Nature has enough that is certain 

 for the beginner, and plenty that is 

 doubtful for the investigator. 



All this happened in Amherst 

 College, where I was taking a post- 

 graduate course, especially for the 

 stud}' of geology. My wise teach- 

 er, Professor Emerson, saw that to 



understand fossils I must first study 

 modern shells, and therefore he 

 gave me the lessons that I have 

 just described. I had often ad- 

 mired the great collection of shells 

 in the college cabinets, and now I 

 was learning how to understand 

 them. A large duplicate collec- 

 tion had been accumulating for 

 years, and as soon as I was able to 

 do it my teacher set me to arrang- 

 ing them in proper order. My in- 

 terest in geology did not die, but 

 my love for conchology increased, 

 and when I came to California 

 soon afterward, I began to collect 

 shells for myself. By the help of 

 scientific friends and museum col- 

 lections I was enabled to learn 

 their names. As there was no 

 popular book to describe them for 

 beginners, I wrote a little one, and 

 afterward a large book, entitled 

 "West Coast Shells." Most of 

 this work has been done during 

 the spare hours of a busy life. 

 The path is an open one; may 

 many of the readers of the Out- 

 door World enter it, and find in the 

 study of these beautiful works of 

 the Creator an ever-increasing 

 source of profitable investigation 

 and ennobling pleasure. — By Pre/, 

 fosiah Keep in The Observer. 



Can Cats Count? 



A friend has several cats which 

 have been taught to make their 

 homes in a barn. One of the 

 workmen in the establishment has 

 been for a number of years in the 

 habit of bringing food from his 

 house, after every dinner time, for 

 these cats. A remarkable fact is 

 that they go from the barn to the 

 entrance of the gate property al- 

 ways about fifteen or twenty min- 

 utes before the workman makes 

 his appearance. Just how they 

 come to learn this exact time of 

 day is not clear, although it goes 

 to show that these animals have 

 reason and judgment to some ex- 

 tent. Strange to say that although 

 this has been going on for several 

 years, the cats do not seem to 

 know that every seventh day is 

 Sunday, and that the workman 

 does not make his appearance at 

 the grounds on that day, yet reg- 

 ularly every Sunday, for all these 

 many years, they come to meet 

 him, only to be doomed to disap- 

 pointment. It would seem from 

 this that cats have not the power 

 to count, or they surely would be 

 able to know by this time that 

 there is a seventh day when they 

 would be doomed to disappoint- 

 ment in their daily meal. — Meehans 1 

 Monthly for October. 



