NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 
201 
Here, then, we have curious instances of things low (?) in the scale 
so well adapting themselves to changed circumstances as to secure 
their safety and preservation. In no works on British Zoophytes is 
there any notice of these hooks. 
A New Postal Box for Slides. — A new form of box for sending 
slides by post has been suggested in America by Dr. E. H. Ward, 
and is said to have “ proved successful beyond anything tried before,” 
in saving the slides from injury. The arrangement consists gene- 
rally in removing the racks, and lining the top, bottom, and end of 
the boxes with thick, soft cloth, and arranging folds of the cloth, 
glued or stitched in place, like a rack at each end of the box, so that 
a double thickness of the cloth shall extend between the slides from 
each end one inch towards the centre. It is described in detail in 
the ‘ American Naturalist ’ for February, and Hardwicke’s ‘ Science-^ 
Gossip ’ for April. 
A “ New ” Box for Microscopic Slides. — In the ‘ American Journal 
of Microscopy ’ for May, Dr. Carl Seiler suggests that the racks of 
the boxes for slides should slant at an angle of 130° to the bottom of 
the box, the inclined position of the slides then obviating, as is said, 
the difficulty there is in reading the labels when the slides are 
upright (as well as the difficulty in getting them out), or injury by 
their sliding over one another when flat. This plan was exhibited 
in England many years ago, but discarded on account of its incon- 
veniences. 
Apparatus for resolving Test Objects. — Mr. George Williams, of the 
Quekett Microscopical Club, has contrived an apparatus for facilitating 
the use of the small bull’s-eye illuminator devised by Messrs. Powell 
and Lealand for the resolution of AmpJiipleura pellucida. That illu- 
minator Mr. Williams points out operates successfully on those 
specimens only which happen to lie in the direction of the width 
of the slip or within very narrow limits of it, the rest of the 
specimens being, from their position, wholly unsuitable for examina- 
tion. If the slide is turned by rotating the stage of the microscope, 
the length of the slide quickly interferes with and pushes aside the 
bull’s-eye. To overcome this difficulty is the object of the apparatus, 
which consists of a tubular disk-holder 1 inch long and J inch diameter, 
the top cut out so as to leave three equidistant ^-inch uprights (as 
slender as possible, so as not to obstruct the light), with small lips, 
upon which can rest parallel a disk of thin plate or crown glass on 
which the diatoms are mounted. The tips of the uprights are slightly 
inclined inwards, to spring lightly against and steady the disk to 
overcome the suction of immersion objectives. The disk-holder slides 
over a tube fixed to a brass plate with a central hole, which is attached 
by screws to the stage of the microscope. The bull’s-eye condenser 
is attached to the stand, and either the disk-holder or the stage of the 
microscope can then be rotated to get any particular specimen into 
position.* A further improvement has been suggested, by substi- 
VOL. I. 
* ‘English Mechanic,’ vol. xxvii. p. 307. 
Q 
