ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
631 
the protoplasm, and of the nucleus, if these parts are isolated to a 
certain extent, and can assume a spherical or ellipsoidal form. 
Newt Ova.* — Prof. G. Born gives a full account of his methods. 
For the larger ova he used chromacetic acid, and that plus sublimate ; 
the smaller ova he placed in hot 1/3 per cent, chromic acid solution 
(80°-90° C.) which fixed the ova instantaneously ; the solution was 
allowed to cool, and the objects were left in it for two days. Strasser s 
collodium-castor-oil mixture is most effective for fixing the sections on 
the slide. Bohmer’s haematoxylin is the sovereign stain for these 
objects. 
Study of Living Fish-Embryos.t — Mr. C. Hill twisted a piece of 
fine copper wire into a loop, the diameter of which was a little less 
than that of the yolk-sac of the embryo. The ends of the wire were 
then bent in such a way that they formed a support for the loop, of 
such a length that, when placed in a flat dish filled with water, the 
loop was raised 1 or 2 mm. from the bottom of the dish. The embryo 
was taken into a wide-mouthed pipette, held in a vertical position, and 
forced into the loop tail foremost in such a way that the loop, by con- 
stricting the yolk-sac, held the embryo firmly in position. By bending 
the wire supporting the loop, the embryo could be brought into any 
desired position. 
Examination of Nervous System of Myxine glutinosa.t — Mr. A. 
Sanders found it very difficult to make the nervous tissue hard enough 
to be sectioned ; a year in bichromate of potash was not too long, and 
Erlicki’s fluid had to be used to get it hard enough to make fairly 
fine sections. Soluble blue was found to show as much, if not more 
than, any other stain. 
Embryology of Gebia littoralis.§ — Mr. P. Butschinsky fixed the 
ova of this Crustacean with Perenyi’s and Kleinenberg’s fluid, or with 
alcoholic sublimate. Borax-carmine, haematoxylin, and haematein-alum 
w T ere the best staining reagents. Embryos saturated with photoxylin 
were imbedded in a mixture of chloroform and paraffin at 40°-45°, and 
then in pure paraffin. 
Examination of Starfishes. || — Mr. H. C. Chadwick has given up 
the use of osmic acid, as it penetrates slowly and makes the tissues 
brittle. In nearly every case he fixed his specimens with saturated 
solution of corrosive sublimate, taking care to expose well the parts re- 
quired for sectioning. Decalcification was effected by immersion in 
10 per cent, nitric acid for about a day. If a living starfish, after the 
separation of the rays from the disc, be put into nitric acid solution and 
afterwards hardened with alcohol, there will be but little contraction. 
Preserving Larvae of Balanoglossus.1T — Mr. T. H. Morgan found 
that the only method that gave satisfactory results was to put the larvae 
for a few minutes into an extremely dilute solution of lactic acid ; they 
* Arch. f. Mikr. Anat., xliii. (1894) pp. 1-79 (4 pis.). 
t Journ. Morphol., ix. (1894) p. 238. 
J ‘Researches in the Nervous System of Myxine glutinosa London, 4to, 1894, 
p. 3. § Zool. Anzeig., xvii. (1894) p. 353. 
|| Trans. Liverpool Biol. Soc., vii. (1893) p. 232. 
1[ Journal of Morphology, ix. (1894) p. 6. 
