
NOTES AND QUERIES. 195 


STAINING WITH ANILINE Brown.—According to Henneguy all 
Infusoria may be stained when in the living state, by means of 
Bismarck Brown. Where Paramecium aurelia was treated with an 
aqueous solution of coloring matter they assumed an intense yellow 
brown color, which first appeared in the vacuoles of the protoplasm 
and then invaded the protoplasm itself. 
Small trout were placed in a solution of the above, and while 
they continued to swim actively about were stained the character- 
istic color, Some cress seeds were sown upon cotton, soaked 
in a strong solution of Bismarck Brown, when it was found that 
the vessels were stained a deep brown, up to their termination in 
the leaves.—Rev. Lnternat. Sct. Biol. 
STARCHES.—A series of twenty-four sections of starch-bearing 
vegetables and starch granules has been sent out by Mr. A. C. 
Cole, F.R.M.S., for the use of botanical students. We have been 
favoured with a set of these preparations, which demonstrate very 
clearly the various forms of the starches, the manner in which they 
are borne in the plant, and show us clearly that very different 
means must be employed for preparing the various kinds in a state 
of purity. _ 
There is a good section of the sweet flag, Acorus calamus, but 
the starch granules are small, and require a good low angle lens of 
high power to see them distinctly. The section of the root of 
Peony, Pwonta officinalis, show us how closely many of the starch 
granules are packed in their cells; but perhaps the best instance 
of this is found in the section of a grain of Maize, Zea mats, of the 
orchids there are two sections of the roots, showing the differences 
in the granules from these plants. There is the Spotted Orchid, 
Orchis maculata, with a large granule, somewhat similar to arrow- 
root, while the Butterfly Orchid, Hadernaria bifolia, contains 
granules nearly circular, and but half the size of O. maculata. One 
of the most beautiful sections in the collection is that of the 
Geranium stem, and the Mandrake (Atvopa mandragora) and 
Buttercup roots (Ranuncnlus bulbosus) are good also; but the 
triumph of the preparers’ art is to be found in the section of 
Liquorice root, Glycyrrhiza glabra, where a complete unbroken 
section is exhibited of a diameter of three quarters of an inch. 
The section of Yam tuber, Déscorea satiova, is a fine one, and 
shows many of the granules cut in two, while the section of a 
Green Pea, Pisum sativum, exhibits the large circular cells filled 
with mature and immature granules, The section of a grain of 
Wheat is an exceedingly interesting study. In one unbroken plate 
we have before the eye the whole structure of the grain, and this 
method of examining the starches commends itself to the micros- 
copist as being fraught with interest, and giving him an insight 
into the cell-structure of the most important plants. 
