TRANSACTIONS. 
Report on Slides of Diatomace^, mounted by E. Samuels^ 
for Boston (U. S.) Society of Natural History, and 
presented to the Microscopical Society of London. By 
Charles Stodder. 
(Eead October 10th, 1860.) 
The diatoms of our coast have been but little studied. 
These specimens will, on that account alone, possess consider- 
able interest, though they have only been glanced at, for want 
of time. Those from Quincy appear most promising. The 
Milton slide contains almost entirely what Mr. Samuels con- 
siders a new Himantidium. The Bangor and Bemis Lake 
deposits are similar to other " sub-peat deposits found all 
over New England, and described by Ehrenburg and Bailey. 
These have not been fully studied as yet. 
The diatoms from the intestines of Holothurians and Echini 
are of great interest. They were taken from animals col- 
lected for our members, Mr. Jas. M. Barnard and Professor 
L. Agassiz. Some of the slides, prepared and mounted by 
Mr. Samuels, coming into my possession last spring, I 
noticed that they were very rich in genera and species, and 
that many appeared to be new. I sent specimens to our 
corresponding member, Mr. A. M. Edwards, of New York, 
who has paid much attention to this department of science 
for several years. His interest was excited by the specimens, 
and a larger quantity of the material was procured from 
Mr. Samuels, and also some directly from Mr. Barnard, 
and cleaned by Mr. Edwards, which, although but partially 
investigated as yet, has yielded a rich harvest of new forms, 
as well as many but recently published in Europe, together 
with a great number of old and well-known species. 
The discovery of this source of supply of diatoms will 
yield important scientific results. We obtain specimens from 
localities otherwise all but inaccessible to the microscopist. 
We have ascertained that a great many species are common 
VOL. I. NEW ser. c 
