Quarterly Chronicle of Microscopical Science

Third Part, 1866.—”New Infusoria in a Sea Aquarium,” by Dr. Ferdinand Cohn, of Breslau.—After some interesting remarks of a general character on the structure of Infusoria, Dr. Cohn proceeds to describe at some length the. following species of Infusoria observed by him:—1. Trachelocerca Phœnicopterus, n. sp. 2. Lacrymaria Lagenula, Clap, and Lachm. Meta- cystis truncata, nov. gen. et spec. Nassula microstoma, n. sp. Placus striatus, nov. gen. et spec. Amphileptus Gutta, n. sp. Lembus velifer, nov. gen. et spec. Anophrys sarcophaga, nov. gen. et spec. Colpoda pigérrima, n. sp. Uronema marinum, Duj. Pleuronema Citrullus, n. sp. Helicastoma oblongum, nov. gen. et spec. Loxophyllum rostratum, n. sp. Actinotric ha saltans, nov. gen. et spec. Stichocfueta pediculiformis, n. sp. Oxytricha scutellum, n. sp. Oxytricha flava, n. sp. ; var. carnea. Oxytricha rubra, Ehr. Trichodina Auerbackii, n. sp. Acarella Siró, nov. gen. et spec. Cothurnia Pupa, Eichw. Glyphidium marinum, Fresenius. These numerous genera and species are figured with great clearness in two finely executed large folding plates. The paper is an admirable example of what may be done by a good microscopist simply working at what lies under his hand—the inhabitants of an aquarium. Dr. Cohn’s aquarium was set up, he states, for the purpose of studying marine Algae, and these Infusoria were accidentally observed.

“On Hemioniscus, a New Genus of Parasitic Isopods,” by Dr. R. Buchholz.—This very interesting crustacean was observed at Christinasand, in the bottom of a vessel in which a number of Balani (B. ovularis, Lamk.) had been placed. They presented at first the appearance of some Annuloid animal ; but their true nature was soon revealed by the use of the microscope, and their history afterwards traced. Dr. Buchholz places Hemioniscus in the family Bopyridæ (Epi- caridæ, Latr.). The anatomy and development of the female animal are fully described and illustrated by two coloured plates.

“On Coscinosphæra ciliosa, a new Radiolarian,” by Alexander Stuart, of Petersburg.—This Rhizopod is placed by the author in Hackci’s family Ethmosphærida, which he divides into three sub-families:—1. Coscinosphærida, containing this new genus Coscinosphæra. 2. Heliosphærida, with the genera Cyrtidosphœra, Ethmosphœra, Heliosphœra. 3. Arach- nosphærida, comprising two genera, Diplospkœra and Arach- nosphæra. The characters of this new form are described, and its affinities discussed at length, and a plate illustrates the paper.

The energetic author of this paper states that at Giessen, on the under side of leaves of Nymphœa tutea, he met with large numbers of white lenticular bodies, which, on close examination, proved to be Rotifers of a kind at present unknown. The adult female of this remarkable form appears, when expanded, to consist of two nearly equal circular sacs, the anterior of which is open, forming the mouth, and is destitute of any “wheel-apparatus it possesses at the same time a mastax, well-marked “water-vessels,” and reproductive organs. The young female differs totally from the adult in the possession of a ciliary apparatus, distinct eyes, and in its free habit of life. The adult male is, as in other Rotifers, quite unlike the female. He has a broad, ciliated, oral extremity, provided with eyes, and apparently a large præ-oral ganglion, whilst his body gradually tapers to a point posteriorly, provided with a few cilia. The writer in the ¹ Zoological Record for 1865’ had no paper to report upon from the class Rotifera: we congratulate him upon having here a very interesting one. Herr Mecznikow concludes his paper with some remarks on the affinities of Rotifera. In his paper “On Icthy- dina, translated in the last number of this Journal, it will be remembered that he advocated the juxtaposition of the Chœtonoti and Rotifers, the one to be called Gastrotricha, and the other Cephalotricha. At the same time, he appeared to object to the notion that the Rotifera (Cephalotricha’) represented the larval stage of Annelida. In this paper he shows the strong resemblance which subsists between many Gastrotricha and Annelid-larva, and mentions his discovery at Gottingen of a Notommata (Rotifer) which had ventral cilia, as a proof of the relationship of Chœtonoti and Rotifera. The genus Dinophilus, which is closely related to Icthydium, bears, he states, a very close resemblance to the larva of the Annelid Lysidice, which he has observed at Naples, and which will be more fully described at a future time with other Annelid-larvae. He gives, as his final opinion, that Dinophilus (and hence, we suppose, the allied groups, Cephalotricha and Gasterotricha generally) is to be regarded as a stationary Annelid-larva, bearing the same relation to Annelida as Appendicularia to the Ascidians—the view originally put forward by Professor Huxley in this Journal.

“On a Fresh-water Crustacean in the Nile,” by Dr. C. B. Klunzniger.

—This is a short paper, with a welldrawn plate, by a pupil of Professor Frey. A few interesting notes are given on the structure, dimensions, &c., of the tubuli and vessels of the kidney in the commonring-snake and carps.

“On Cohnheim’s ‘Compartments’ in the Cross-section of Muscles,” by A. Kölliker.—This paper relates to the arrangement of muscular tissue in separate bundles, which Dr. Cohn- heim, in ‘Virchow’s Archiv’ for 1865, described at some length, making his observations by freezing the muscle and cutting it across the fibre, when a mosaic-like disposition becomes apparent. Professor Kolliker had misunderstood this structure in 1856, and now returns to its study with the improved instrument of 1866. He concludes, from numerous considerations adduced, that the muscular bundles possess really a fasciculate (faserigen) structure, or that the parts which bind together the sarcous elements in the longitudinal direction have not the same character as the cross-binding middle portion and the substance between Cohnheim’s “compartments also that the muscular columns (muskel- aulchen) are still further held together, and consist of fibrillæ and very scanty intervening substance. In another part of our Chronicle is an abstract of some notes by Dr.McNamara on the same subject.

Max Schultze’s Archiv f. Mikr. Anat. Second and Third Parts, lb66 —The bulk of this double number is occupied by a paper by Professor Schultze “On the Retina,” of which a long notice is given among our translations. The other memoirs in this number are—

“Contributions to the Natural History of the Infusoria,” by Dr. W. Zenker.

“Description of a Live-box for the observation of Living Tadpoles and other Animals,” by F. E. Schultze, of Rostock.

“On the Sculpture of Gyrosigma,” with a plate, by M. Schiff, of Florence.

“On some Amœbæ living in the Earth, and other Rhizopods” (two plates), by Dr. Richard Greef.

“Bony Bodies with Special Capsules in the Tooth-pulp” (with figures), by Dr. Hohl.

“On the Contractile Tunic of Infusoria,” by Dr. Schwalbe.

“On the Influence of Gases on Ciliary Movement,” by Herr Kuhne.

—Comptes Rendus.— “The Microscope and Gas-diffusion.”—Mr. Graham, the Master of the Mint, communicated an account of his researches on the dialysis of gases to the French Academy a short time since. His latest experiments were made relative to the passage of gases through thin membranes of india rubber; and believing the india- rubber sheeting to be perfectly imperforate, he concluded that the passage of the gas was effected by a chemical union with the hydrocarbons of the india rubber. M. Flourens, however, of the French Academy, has examined thin india rubber with the microscope, and declares that innumerable minute perforations are to be traced in it, through which the gas would pass by capillary transpiration. It is certainly desirable that further examination of the matter should be made; meanwhile microscopists may congratulate themselves upon a new field for their instrument.

Robin’s Journal de l’Anatomie et de la Physiologie. No. 6. November and December

—This journal appears to be conducted in somewhat the same manner as our own, since it publishes the transactions of the Micrographic Society of Paris in addition to other original memoirs and short notes or reviews. The first paper in the current number (the journal appears six times in the year) is on—

—In this paper the microscopic structure of the teeth in caries is very fully figured and described, and the pathological and physiological bearings of the disease discussed.

“On the Lymphatic Vessels, fyc.—Additional Note,” by Dr. Belaieff.—This is a continuation of the paper which we noticed in our last Chronicle.

—The author was one of those appointed to investigate the disease of the silkworms for the French Academy. Certain corpuscles had been noticed as always present in great numbers in the fluids of the diseased worms, and had been variously described. Dr. Balbiani has examined them, and believes them to be Psorosperms—pseudo-naviculæ of some Gregarina. He regards them as vegetable parasite and states that he has found them in other insects and also in Entoinostraca. In the same way as most other animal and vegetable parisites, these corpuscles do not constitute a cause of danger for the health or even for the life of the individuals in which they develop themselves ; but their excessive multiplication brings on functional disorders of a serious nature in the organs which they have invaded. The author further notes that the egg of a psorospermic Bombyx has an acid reaction, whilst that of a healthy one has a slightly alkaline effect ; and he concludes that the psorosperms are in some way intimately connected with this acid condition. The Gregarinida seem daily acquiring more importance, extending their range of victims in every direction, and yet very little is known of the group.

—This is the first part of an extensive essay, already amounting to forty pages and two plates. The microscopic structures of the numerous elements of the innermost ear are successively described. The paper does not appear to contain much new matter, but, like that on caries above mentioned, is a very useful paper to one who works with the microscope.

—The statutes of this society, which is apparently but just founded, are published in the journal. M. Charles Robin is the president, M. Balbiani the vice-president. At present it numbers about thirty members, most of whom appear to be anatomists and medical men. We wish this society every success, and hope that it may be productive of some good work, as it seems likely to be. At the last meeting a paper was read by M. Kanver “On the Structure of Subungual Exostosis,” which is an interesting pathological essay. We suspect that the new society will be almost entirely devoted to the investigation of human histology.

” On New British Hydroida,” by the Rev. T. Hincks—The species that are briefly characterised in this paper will be more fully described and figured in the general history of the British Hydroid Zoophytes on which Mr. Hincks is engaged. The species are Coryne vermicularis, from deep water off Shetland, Campanularia flabellata, which is set down as a new species at the same time that the C. gelatinosa of Van Beneden is said to be a synonym of it. How can this be? This species occurs at Tenby in tidepools, and off Scotland. C. gigantea, Lamlash Bay, on shell. Gonothyræa hyalina, Shetland. Cuspidella (nov. gen.) humilis, on the steins of zoophytes, North Wales, Yorkshire, Shetland, &c. Sertularia attenuata, North Devon, Yorkshire. Besides these new species, Mr. Hincks has to record Clava leptostyla, Agassiz, from Morecambe Bay, and Gonothyræa gracilis, Sars, from Connemara.

November.—Mr. Hincks describes in this number a new genus of Sertularian Hydroids—Ophiodes. The single species O. mirabilis was dredged by Mr. Hincks in Swanage Bay, Dorset, on weed in shallow water, where it was not uncommon.

—The Rev. W. A. Leighton continues his papers on Lichens. He is now advocating the use of hydrate of potash in discriminating between species, since different species give different colours and other reactions when treated with this agent. He has found it particularly useful in deciphering the difficult tribe of Cladoniei.

Journal of Anatomy and Physiology.—This is a new periodical, to be published half-yearly, of royal octavo size, and largely illustrated. It is conducted by Professors Humphry and Newton of Cambridge, Dr. E. P. Wright of Dublin, Dr. Turner of Edinburgh, and Mr. Clarke of Trinity College, Cambridge. It may in some way be regarded as a successor to the ‘Natural History Review,’ which we much regret has ceased publication, two names at least passing from the cover of the one to the other. We believe that the principal reason of the Cambridge professors for entering into the publication is to gain for their university, if possible, a reputation for showing some little regard for biological science, more especially in its medical aspects. The utter indifference of Cambridge to the progress of any science that is not mathematical is, however, too well known, and more substantial proofs of her interest than a new journal are required. There are two microscopical papers in this very excellent magazine, illustrated by numerous plates.

—This is a very careful résumé of the work of previous observers, to which the author has most conscientiously added his own observations, confirmatory or otherwise. This paper formed part of a thesis presented to the medical faculty at Edinburgh in 1865, for which a gold medal was awarded.

—There are some noteworthy remarks on the retina of the chameleon in this paper, as well as on those of Amphibia. Whilst the six plates illustrating Dr. Lightbody’s paper are done fairly well, though wanting in sharpness, those illustrating this paper of Dr. Hulke’s are among the roughest pen-and-ink sketches we ever saw lithographed. How is it that even a new journal, with every opportunity, such as this is, cannot find an artist who will produce a plate fit to be compared with those issued in German periodicals ?

—In the September number of this magazine is a paper “On Pollen-grains as Diagnostic Characters,” by Professor Gulliver. He shows that a microscopic examination of the pollen may afford good diagnoses between closely allied species. Of two plants, standing side by side in our Flora, the pollen-grains of Ranunculus arvenis are large, and rough on the surface, while those of R. hirsutus are much smaller, and smooth on the surface.

A new distinction also appears in the pollen between Lotus corniculatus and L. major, the pollen-grains being regularly larger in the former than in the latter plant. This curious fact, if confirmed, will be in direct opposition to the conclusion of many eminent botanists, that L. major is “only a variety, larger in all its parts,” of L. corniculatus.

“On the Frond-cells of Lemna and Wblffia.”—The same observer, in the December number, states that there is this remarkable microscopic difference between Wolffia arrhiza (1ately discovered in this country by Dr. Henry Trimen) and Lemna minor; the latter abounds in raphides, while the former has none at all.

Medical Times and Gazette. Nov. 17th.—” Striped Muscle,” by C. Macnamara, M.D., Surgeon to the Calcutta Ophthalmic Hospital.—When a man comes forward and says, “I have been working with a the objective,” and speaks of “twelfths” and “twentieths” as low powers, his observations cannot fail to interest the readers of this Journal. We therefore extract here the greater part of a paper by such an author ; at the same time, we by no means give our sanction to, nor are we in a position to reject, his statements, which are certainly remarkable in some ways :

“During the past ten years I have been working more or less steadily with one of Ross’s eighth and one sixteenth of an inch glass, but within the last six months with a Powell and Lealand’s one fiftieth of an inch, magnifying about 2800 diameters, and with it the observations I have now to detail have been made. Of the various kinds of muscular tissues, the mylohyoid of the chameleon affords, probably, the most beautiful specimens. Dr. Beale’s little favorite, the Hyla arbórea, is not, I fancy, to be had in India ; the Hyla versicolor may, however, be procured, but does not, according to my experience, afford such perfect specimens as the chame-león. Dr. Cameron, of Monghyr, kindly sent me down six of these curious creatures some time since. They have one after the other been killed and injected with Beale’s blue solution, and the subsequent steps he describes in preparing tissues for examination under the higher powers of the microscope have been strictly attended to. (Vide Dr. Beale’s book, ‘How to Work with the Microscope,’ third edition, p. 204.) The striped muscle of the Vertebrata is composed of one or more bundles of fibres, the whole being enclosed in connective tissue known as the sheath of the muscle. Numerous septa dip into the substance of the muscle from this sheath, so as to divide it into compartments of an irregular shape and size. Each of these is filled by a bundle of muscular fibres ; the vessels and nerves ramify in the connective tissue of the septa, and are thus brought into immediate contact with the muscular fibres.

“If a bundle of muscular fibres is carefully examined under a low power, it will be found to consist of numerous fibres— the ‘ultimate fibres of muscle.’ Each ultimate fibre runs continuously from one end of the fibre to the other end, and is attached at either extremity to a fibrous structure, which usually assumes the form of a tendon ; consequently the length of the ultimate fibre depends upon the length of the muscle, in the case of the sartorious being perhaps upwards of two feet, and in the stapedius a few lines in length. The diameter of the ultimate fibre varies according to the degree of development of its contractile element, as I shall presently explain. After a muscle has been kept in glycerine for a time we may easily isolate a bundle of these muscular fibres ; the tissues being gently torn apart, a few ultimate fibres may be examined under a fiftieth of an inch glass.

“Each ultimate muscular fibre will be found to be encased in a sheath of homogeneous tissue, called the sarcolemma, which is very apt to be thrown into perpendicular elevations and depressions, so that it is a common occurrence to see the ultimate fibre streaked by dark lines running in the direction of the length of the fibre, produced by the wrinkled surface of the sarcolemma. We may also notice elongated masses of germinal matter (coloured by the carmine we have used in making the preparation) scattered at pretty regular intervals throughout the sarcolemma. They are elongated in the direction of the length of the muscle, and are situated either above or below, or it may be on either side of the fibre in the substance of the sarcolemma itself. No doubt it is from these comparatively large masses of germinal matter that not only the sarcolemma, but the contractile tissue within it, is formed.

“With regard to the arrangements of the contents of the sarcolemma—that is, the essential and characteristic element of the striped muscle—I may compare it to a ladder of contractile tissue, the steps or horizontal bars of the ladder being, however, spiral bands, whereas its side pieces or perpendicular supports are flat bands running continuously from one end of the muscle to the other end. The horizontal bars connect these perpendicular ones, but, as above stated, are curled upon themselves like a spiral spring.

“As to the contractile tissue, it appears to me to be a homogeneous substance, its property being to contract in obedience to the nervous force set in motion either by a voluntary or a reflex stimulus. I believe the unstriped muscle affords us one of the least complicated examples of this contractile tissue to be found in the human subject, and I hold that the crystalline lens is equally muscle, and probably the most complex arrangement of contractile tissue to be met with. By this I mean that I have every reason to suppose the lens is capable of altering the curvature of its anterior surface independently of the ciliary muscle. I conceive the bands of which it is composed are constructed of contractile tissue, arranged in a peculiar manner, that they may fulfil a special purpose ; but whatever form the contractile tissue may take, its properties are the same, the disposition of its elements being adapted to the mechanical purposes for which it is required. Each primitive fibre of muscle, therefore, is formed of two parallel bands of this contractile tissue, which run continuously from one end of the muscle to the other end, and these parallel bands are united by cross bands, which, however, are continuous with the side bands, so that, to carry our simile a step further, we must liken this arrangement, not to an ordinary ladder—each step or bar being a separate piece of wood—but suppose that the ladder has been carved out of a solid mass, the spaces between the bars having been scooped out of the plank from which we imagine the ladder to have been made. Each one of these cross-bars or steps is arranged as a spiral band. Enclose the whole of this in a layer of sarcolemma, and we have a primitive fibre ; take a bundle of these and bind them round in connective tissue, and we have a bundle of muscular fibre ; and of a collection of these, again, the bulk of the muscle is composed.

“The apparent object of this disposition of the contractile element in muscular fibre is to allow of the contraction of the muscle in length without any great augmentation in its bulk, the spaces between the horizontal bars allowing of this, and at the same time the spiral arrangement of the cross bands allows of their elongation and contraction upon themselves without any stretching or pulling of the delicate substance of which they are composed.

“That there are open spaces between the horizontal bands appears to me certain from the appearance of the parts, and from the fact that the contractile tissue—and, in fact, all the structures of the body—may be stained with carmine, but these interspaces never show the slightest appearance of any colour, their hue in many specimens being exactly similar to that of the field of the microscope where no tissue intervenes between it and the lamp used for illuminating the object. What, then, is the meaning of the perpendicular and horizontal lines noticed in a specimen of muscular fibre when examined by a quarter or twelfth of an inch glass ? The perpendicular lines may be produced either from the line of union of two primitive fibres or from the creasing of the sarcolemma or the fibrous case, which encloses a bundle of fibres ; but an isolated primitive fibre, when examined under a high power, presents no appearance of longitudinal striation, provided its fibrous case and sarcolemma have been destroyed or rendered too transparent to be seen. The dark cross lines are caused by the shadows cast upon the open spaces, or by the approximation of two horizontal bars ; under a high power these dark spaces may be resolved into two dark lines bordering the horizontal bands and an interspace of a very much lighter colour, which is often, as I have above stated, of the same hue as the field of the microscope.”

—”On the Structure and Habits of Authophysa Mütleri (Bory), one of the Sedentary Monadiform Protozoa,” by H. James-Clark, A.B., B.8.— “We have before had to notice the careful studies of the author of this paper, who is devoting his energies to the most detailed study of single species of Infusoria. He observes, with perhaps a little more enthusiasm than accuracy, that the microscopes of the present day are to those of the past what Cuvier’s scalpel was to those of his predecessors, and believes that a vast deal is yet to be learnt about the Infusoria by the use of the best glasses opticians can produce. This is possible; at present, however, we have not heard of a single discovery in biological science, acknowledged and confirmed as true, which may fairly be said to have been made by the use of a better glass than the 4-inch objective of many years’ standing. Mr. James-Clark describes the simple organization and habits of his Infusorian with great care, and really makes use of his high-power objectives and illuminating apparatus. We do not feel sure, however, that he would not have seen as much with a good “quarter,” or at any rate an eighth. There are scores of persons in this country who have spent great sums of money over microscopes, and yet have never made a single observation worth recording ; and the strangest thing is that these are the people (with rare exceptions) who possess the “sixteenths,” “twentieths,” and “fiftieths,” made by our great microscope manufacturers. In Germany, where nearly all the good true work with the microscope is done, though the beauty of our English glasses is acknowledged, very few observers have even seen one of our expensive unused toys ; and all is done by the cheap glasses of Oberhausen, Kelner, &c. Hence we have not, as a rule, much faith in persons who estimate the value of their observations by the figure of the magnifying power of their objectives. Mr. James-Clark, we believe, does not do this ; he is a patient and acute observer, and is doing good service by his detailed studies of Protozoa.