PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES,

DUBLIN MICBOSCOBICAL CLUB.

21st January, 1869.DR. E. PEBCEYAJJ WEIGHT exhibited a species of Corticate

Sponge, from the collection made by him in the Seychelles, from> the peculiar structure of which he was inclined to believe that it

should be referred to Bowerbank's genus Pachymatisma, of whichonly one species was known, Pachymatisma Johnstonia^ Amplii-trema M'Callii, Scouler, MSS. The oscula in the Seychelles specieswere few in number and simple, pores inconspicuous. The ovalsiliceous bodies in the corticate layer were as in Pachymatisma jhut some few appeared to have a dark central nucleus ; the inter-stitial spicules were cylindrical and also " cylindro-patento-ternate;" sarcode spicules stellate.

Mr. Archer drew attention to a Heliozoan Rhizopod, being thesame he exhibited at the Club meeting, 19th September, 1867,and which he had little'doubt was the same as the first of theforms figured and expatiated on by Dr. Focke in Siebold andKolliker's ' Zeitschrift fur Wissenschaftliche Zoologie,' Bd. xviii,Heft iii, p. 345, t. xxv, which had just reached his hands, and•which he now exhibited. He would, however, defer any furtherenlargement upon it for the present, until he had an opportunityto bring forward another closely allied form, which two together,he thought, excellently represented a new and distinct genus.The essential character of this genus would be that the centralbody, bearing long slender pseudopodia, is enclosed within astratum of a quite different looking sarcode, itself giving off pseu-dopodial processes of its own, different in character from thoseemanating from the central body. This genus, which he wouldcall Heterophrys, and the present form Heterophrys FocJcti, hehoped to figure and describe on a future occasion.

Eev. E. O'Meara showed a peculiar Diatom taken from thestomach of an Ascidian from Belfast Lough. It presented thegeneral appearance of Nitzschia bilobata, but the surface of thevalve between the striate border and the margin of the hoopwas covered with wart-like excrescences irregularly disposed.Five or six examples were found in the gathering, all presentingthe same peculiar feature. He considered it a variety of Nitzschiabiblobata, and suggested for it the distinctive name of verrucosa.

Dr. Moore exhibited examples of the Prothallia of Ferns,showing the archegonia; he explained the morphological structure

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of this remarkable type of reproduction, and enlarged on thephysiological questions involved.

Dr. Traquair showed a series of Poraminiferous Shells from DogBay, Connemara.

Dr. John Barker drew attention to a circumstance, seeminglygenerally overlooked (now exemplified by the motions of Tiro-centrum turbo), connected with various animalcules, both rotatoriaand infusoria. What he alluded to was their having the appear-ance during motion as if influenced or confined, or even moored,by some invisible thread or tether to foreign bodies. The ani-malcule spins and rotates, the while describing an arc of a circle,backwards and forwards, at an even distance from an apparentpoint of attachment; nay, if the foreign body, seemingly formingthe centre round which the animalcule hovers, be but of moderatevolume or weight, it may be drawn along as if pulled by the sup-posed thread—supposed, indeed, because it must be admitted thatit is never visible. After a little the motions of the creature maybecome more vigorous, and seemingly the cord snaps, for suddenlythe animalcule darts off in an onward direction. This kind ofappearance would seem sufficiently common in different forms asapparently to contradict the idea that it may be only a charac-teristic fidgety motion of any particular form, and even to leadto the idea that many minute forms actually have a power ofspinning or paying out an immeasurably delicate cord of attach-ment, so delicate as to evade all means we possess of seeing it,and one which it can itself sever at will.

1827* February, 1869.

Dr. E. Perceval Wright exhibited preparations of an Alcyonoidfrom Messina and Syracuse, which had been described some yearsago (1842) by Philippi as Bebryce mollis. Milne-Edwards, in his' Histoire des Goralliaires,' rejects both the genus and species,stating on the authority of Valenciennes that it was describedfrom nothing more or less than the stalk of an ordinary Gorgo-nian, on which a colony of Sympodium coralloides had establisheditself. Kolliker, however, in his ' Icones histiologies,' mentionsthat he had an opportunity of examining the very specimens de-scribed by Philippi, and explains that the figure illustrating hispaper in the ' Archiv fur Naturgeschicte ' represents the polypwith "retracted" tentacles, whereas the description laid emphasison their being non-retractile, and that from this discrepancy arosethe want of belief in the genus. The specimens now exhibitedwere dredged in the Grulf of Messina in June of last year, andresembled in every respect the species figured by Philippi; theywere recognised as this species by Dr. J. E. Gray the moment hesaw them. They agree, moreover, with Philippi's description,omitting the word " not " before retractile, when describing thepolyp, so that Dr. Wright thought that, without doubt, his species,though not compared with the original type-specimens, now

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in Prof. Leuckart's Museum, was really Bebryce mollis (Phil.).Here it may be remarked that the Messina specimens were ingood condition and preserved in spirit. Kolliker, in his descrip-tion of the ccenenchyma of this species, says that the calcareousspicules are all scale-shaped, and that these are more or lesstoothed ; that they vary in outline, the extremes being—(1) largescales, with small middle outgrowths; and (2) small scales, withlarge outgrowths or excrescences. Those seen in profile mostlyappear of a " nine-pin" shape, with clipped ends; all thesespicules are "twins," and in moat the line of separation is clearlydiscernible. These various forms of spicules were exhibited.The "scale" spicules, large and small, of all manner of irregularityof outline, were found, forming an outer crust to the ectoderm;but, in addition, there was found another form of spicule foundby Kolliker occurring in Eunicea, which did not appear to bea " twin " form of spicule, and which seemed to be very distinctfrom any of the forms called scale-forms by Kolliker. Thesespicules appeared to occupy the iuner portion of the coenenehyina,and especially that portion of the base of the polyps; they havebeen referred to by Kolliker as the " Blattkeulen," but this namehe applies also to spicules of a very different shape; perhaps thename " shuttlecock" spicule may be found to be more appro-priate.

Mr. Archer exhibited another new form of Heliozoan Ehizopod,of a type similar to that shown by him at last meeting, believedto be identical with that spoken of, but not described, by Focke(Siebold and Kblliker's ' Zeitschrift fur wiss. Zoologie,' Bd. xviii,Heft iii, page 345, t. xxv), that is, the present forming a second speciesin the genus Heterophrys (Arch.). It was to be regretted that hehad not been able to meet with a specimen of the form shown onthe last occasion, for the sake of contrast with the new form nowdrawn attention to; and it was still further to be regretted thatthe example of the latter now presenting itself had suffered much(upon the slide) in the transit down to the meeting j and as hehad spent hours in searching for the only one he had met withfor this occasion, he was afraid it would be fruitless delay at themeeting to try to search in the material for another specimen.But crushed and somewhat crowded upon by other objects aa theexample shown might be, he was very glad to be so fortunate asto have been able to get it, as the specimens were greatly dimi-nishing in the material; he trusted, however, the various points towhich he would wish to draw attention could be made apparent.The present was a good deal larger form than Focke's, the centralsarcode mass hyaline, but densely loaded with chlorophyll-granules, and possessing a few smaller, darkish granules; pseudo-podia emanating therefrom long, filiform, but comparatively notvery slender ; outer stratum cloudy and granular, and at the

Periphery divided into an innumerable quantity of slender hair-ke processes. He would name this fine form KeteropJirys my-

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riopoda, and hoped to give a figure and description of it erein the ' Microscopical Journal.'

Mr. Archer further presented examples of another, not lessremarkable, Freshwater Rhizopod. This large and fine form wasloosely coated with foreign heterogeneous particles, and differedfrom every other form by presenting two characters of pseudo-podia, emanating from different portions of one and the samesarcode body. Tbe general form is egg-shaped, covered loosely byan aggregation of foreign arenaceous particles, diatomaceousfragments and frustules, seemingly dead protococcoid structures,and bits of fibrous-looking matter, earthy-looking particles, &c.From the anterior end projects an almost hemispherical elevation,whence emanates a dense cluster of variable, often inordinatelylong, hyaline, branched pseudopodia; and from the general surfaceof the body elsewhere, and projecting through the outer looselyaggregated covering, there proceeds a dense quantity (looking at themargin like a fringe) of hyaline, short pseudopodia, nearly uniformin appearance, thickness, and length. The frontal eminenceshowed a marginal pulsating vacuole, like Actinophrys, and thecentral mass a large " nucleus." This could not at all be enn-sidered, even apart from the border of nearly equal short processes,as like a Gromia—that is, such as the typical Gromia Jluviatilis,though it may have some closer affinity to the form called GromiaDujardinii by Schultze; that form, however, appears prettyclearly cannot be correctly regarded as a Gromia at all. Mr.Archer felt sure that those who had seen a living Gromia mustacknowledge the great difference in character of the pseudopodia,apart from the test being membranous in that genus, and thepresence of the fringe-like border of processes in this form. Incharacter of pseudopodia there is more resemblance to certainforms, possibly referable to Pleurophrys (Clap, et Lachm.), whichMr. Archer showed, but which he had doubtfully ere now ima-gined may have been (some one of them) the type of Schlum-berger's Pseudodifflugia. Mr. Archer intended ere long topublish a figure of this fine form as the type of a distinct genus,which he named Diaphoropodon.

Mr. Archer exhibited, on the part of Mr. Walter W. Eeeves, ofLondon, some specimens, kindly forwarded by that gentleman, ofa form of Cothurnia from Victoria Docks, London, which appearedto be new and strikingly characterised by the possession of aclosely fitting operculum attached to the neck portion of theanimal, and by which, upon withdrawal into its case, it couldsecurely close the mouth of the latter as with an accuratelyadapted lid. It was likewise characterised by an exceedinglylong and slender stipes. This remarkably beautiful object, whichMr. Reeves informed Mr. Archer would immediately be figuredand described by Mr. Kent, was accompanied by numerous otherelegant things—forms of Carchesiuui, Aeineta, various rotatoria,&c, and amongst these a conspicuous Vaginicola, with a cam-panulate case, in several examples of which could be readily seen

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a valvular structure, raised and lowered by the motions of theanimal in and out of its case, just as in the cylindrical form calledVaginicola valvata.

A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Eeeves for the opportunityto see this new and beautiful specimen.

18^ March, 1869.

Mr. Archer showed a new and minute freshwater Rhizopodreferable to Dujardin's genus Gromia. This rather inert-lookingform at first called to mind somewhat the appearance of a Chy-tridium, but their occurrence not attached to any foreign bodyand a further observation showed their true nature. The test isvery minute, orbicular, hyaline, smooth; body within the testopaque, bluish, granular, with an eccentric whitish nucleus,each with a central dark nucleolus; pseudopodia often long,slender, hyaline, bearing in a Blow circulation several darkishgranules, often cohering by the pseudopodia one to the other insmall groups. Mr. Archer hoped to shortly give a figure of thisCurious little form, with a description, and would meantime callthis form Gromia socialls.

Dr. E. Perceval Wright exhibited a section of a series ofspicules belonging to a Creeping Sponge, met with by him atMahe, which had been described by Dr. J. E. Gray as Placo-spongia melobesioides. He thought that though this genus wascertainly closely allied to Geodia, yet that perhaps, until we knewmore of the generic peculiarities of the Corticata, the genusmaybe retained. He brought it forward now chiefly in continua-tion of a series of notes already before the club on the " Spongesof the Corticate Division" of Oscar Schmidt. Dr. Bowerbankthinks that this species is the same as his Oeodia carinata(' British Sponges,' vol. i, p. 239), but this does not appear tobe the case. Duchassaing and Michelotti have described a genuacalled Acamas; one species {A. violacea) appeared to come veryclosely indeed to Placospongia melobesioides.

Dr. John Barker showed a new Compressorium constructed byMr. Eoss, having! the advantage of readily exerting a directvertical pressure on the object, the extent of which ia regulatedby turning a screw placed at the left hand of the platform, whichwas made to receive an ordinary slide and cover, thus presentingthe very valuable facility of being able to submit any objectcasually encountered without any difficulty to the action of thecompressor. Dr. Barker, however, was about to suggest to Mr.Eoss some modifications which would still further facilitate theuse of this little instrument, so as to retain the slide at the mostconvenient place before the screw pressure became exerted.

Dr. Moore showed the Spores of Hypnum straminevm in variousstages of germination. In those farthest advanced the confervoid-like threads, as they issued from the spore, spread themseves overthe surface of the leaf itself, which, being transparent, afforded a

good opportunity of seeing that those filamentous substances formimmediately on the contents of the spore dissolving, each sporegiving birth to a number of them. In some cases the contentsappeared to be composed of elongated particles while in situ,before they issued from the spore. The question arose as towhether each of the filamentous threads, under favorable circum-stances, was capable of ultimately giving rise to a new plant, orwhether a number of them coalesced to form one—which wasleft undecided until further observations are made.

Mr. Crowe exhibited a section of flint, having not only theusual so-called Xanthidia imbedded in it, but likewise showing insection a fragment of some coniferous wood, with its characteristicpits.

Rev. E. O'Meara showed his original drawings of sundry newDiatoms, and gave their characters and distinctions. These werenamed Pleurosigma giganteum, var. baccatum, Plagiogramma cos-tatum, Melosira Wrightii, Pinnularia marginata, P. scutellum,Amphiprora costata, and were to appear in next number of the' Microscopical Journal.'

Dr. Moss, R.N., exhibited a series of sketches from nature ofMediterranean and Atlantic forms of Appendicularia, and of theenigmatical " Haus of Merten's," in which they were often foundenclosed. He remarked that this curious structure seemed to beassociated exclusively with the oval-bodied or thoracic Appendi-cularia, of which A. flagellvm might, perhaps, be regarded as atype. In two specimens of A.fwcata captured near the Azores inFebruary, 1869, an organism resembling in form the oval-bodiedAppendicularia, and appearing from its motion, attachment, <fcc,to be embryonic, was found on the right neural portion of theupper part of the branchial cavity, a short distance below thebase of the lowest of six oral tentacula, in very much the samesituation in which G-egenbaur described and figured an unsym-metrieal ciliated orifice. Observations calculated to throw lightupon a subject so obscure as the reproduction of these animalsmust necessarily be advanced with caution, but there are groundsfor the hope that ere long we will be as well acquainted with theAppendicularia as with their pelagic brethren, the Salpas andPyrosomas.

Mr. "Woodworth exhibited a series of excellent photographs ofvarious microscopic objects, which he presented to the Club.

Mr. Tichborne exhibited a slide of Sulphate of Copper, crystal-lized at 75° Fahr. This formed a beautiful polariscope object ofa peculiar form. This salt, which has a normal composition ofCuSO4, 5H2O, loses part of its water of hydration at elevatedtemperatures, and crystallizes in a form quite distinct from theordinary one.

Mr. Archer drew attention to some examples of a very minuteorganism which he had detected in several gatherings lately, andwhich he must, he thought, have hitherto overlooked, for he nowfound it not very uncommon; it was, however, one which as yet

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baffled attempts to refer to any particular type. It formed a veryminute globular body, semi-pellucid, and of a bluish hue, havingimmersed therein an amber-coloured globule mostly of considerablebrilliancy, and occupying a large proportion of the mass of thelittle sphere. The whole was surrounded by a thick covering,loosely and irregularly clustered around it, of a heterogeneousvariety of fragments and shreds of other organic bodies, such assplinters of diatoms, bita of protococcoids and confervoids, andvarious fibrouB-looking elements. There were occasionally two,and Mr. Archer had once seen three, of these globular bodies sosurrounded by this outer cluster of foreign fragments, whichmostly assumed an elliptic but irregularly margined generaloutline round the globular central body. There was an appre-ciable* interval between the latter and the outer cluster. Now,this description of the central body, apart from its surroundings,would call to mind (as undoubtedly the examples themselves did)much of the appearance of Dr. Barker's rhizopod, DiplophrysArcheri (see " Dublin Microscopical Club Minutes," 19th Dec,1867). But Mr. Archer had looked in vain Over many specimensof the organism now exhibited for any indication of pseudopodia,nor, indeed, did any kind of locomotive organ present itself.Still, if one could imagine Diplophrys, not only with its pseudo-podia fully retracted, in which condition it is sometimes metwith, but also looBely surrounded in some manner by an aggre-gation of minute and heterogeneous fragments, it is quite true weshould have an object not distinguishable from that now drawnattention to by Mr. Archer. There was nothing further, however,to prove that this was a state of Diplophrys, which is rare, andnever met with in the numbers in which these were present. Itwould seem clear, however, that this must, some time or other,have a non-quiescent state, in which it must be able, in travelling,to discover and select the various fragments, loosely assorted,within which it ensconces, though does not hide, itself, for thepellucid character of the debris employed enables one readily tosee the globular body inside, with its amber spot, often lookingunder a peculiar illumination and focus like a bright flamewithin. Thus, whilst unable to form any accurate idea as to thetrue nature of this curious little production, Mr. Archer thoughtthat even its present total inexplicability would lend it a certainamount of interest.

ROYAL MICEOSCOPICAL SOCIETY.

April 14>th, 1869.

The PRESIDENT (the Rev. J. B. Reade) in the chair.A paper on " Protoplasm and Living Matter " was read by Dr.

Lionel Beale. We have commented on this in another part of theJournal. A discussion followed, in which the question of vitality

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was largely talked of by the Fellows of the Society. Dr. "Wallichasserted that he had found deposits in gutters, and in the outletof the metropolitan main sewer at Crossness, having the charac-teristics of Bathybius.1 The President said that Dr. Beale's paperreminded him of a remark made by Dr. Milner, when asked if hecould refute Bishop Berkeley's theory of matter. He replied, " Icannot answer it. I t contradicts common sense, and there mustbe great nonsense somewhere." He could not say where, how-ever.

May 12th, 1869.The PBESIDENT in the chair.

Mr. George Busk sent in his resignation as a Fellow of theSociety, and was elected an Honorary Fellow on the motion of thePresident.

Mr. B. T. Lowne read a paper on " The Rectal Papilla of theBlow-fly," and Mr. Suffolk made observations on the proboscisof the same insect, and exhibited drawings of it.

The President described an addition to his kettle-drum con-denser, consisting of a third lens.

June 9th, 1869.The PRESIDENT (Rev. J. B. Eeade) in the chair.

The President described a most valuable new form of illumi-nation, which he declared had rendered the microscope a newinstrument to him. He had by its means been able definitely tosettle the structural cause of the markings of the diatom valve,which he could now demonstrate most clearly, even with a -f, asspherical nodules arranged in lines. A young friend of his,looking at a specimen with this new method of illumination, hadexclaimed, " I t is just like a dish of marbles." The illuminationwhich was so successful was obtained by means of a prism whosesection is an equilateral triangle; by its use parallel direct raysare thrown, which avoids the unnatural and deceptive complica-tions obtained by the use of converging rays.

Mr. Weuham remarked that he had shown, by observing theform of splinters of fractured diatom valves, that the markingson the surface were really due to hemispherical projections. Apaper by him on this subject was published some years since inthe ' Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.'

Mr. Eulenstein, the author of the ' Series of Diatoms,' remarkedthat he had, by the most careful study of very many species, cometo the conclusion that there were two forms of marking iudiatoms—first, by the framework, consisting of ridges and eleva-tions characteristic of genera; and secondly, by the universal

1 Has Dr. Wallicli ever compared the two appearances, or on whatground does he venture this statement P—B. R. L.

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spheroidal tubercles, which were more or less thickly disposed onall diatom valves.

Dr. Eulenstein took the opportunity of mentioning that he hadpurchased the late Dr. Arnott'a tubes of diatom material, andwas prepared to issue series of the species in this collection (themost complete British collection) on application.

Mr. Beck called attention to the fact that his brother, the lateRichard Beck, had urged the probability of the spherical characterof the diatom markings, and had shown by photographs of apiece of glass marked with hemispherical protuberances how anhexagonal or dotted appearance could be obtained by varyingthe illumination.

Mr. Jabez Hogg read a paper entitled " Results of SpectrumAnalysis," in which he gave some of Mr. Sorby'a observations,published more than a year since in the Royal Society's pro-ceedings, and also exhibited a drawing of chlorophyll spectra, bythe late Dr. Herapath.

Mr. Ray Lankester expressed his disappointment at the incom-pleteness and inaccuracy of Mr. Hogg's paper. He pointed outseveral fallacies and mistakes in Mr. Hogg's statements, such asthe asserted presence of hfemoglobin in the blood of the house-fly,in which animal its presence is really due to its having beentaken in as food, and is met with only in the alimentary tract;the asserted discovery of copper in turacin by the spectroscope,which was a complete misrepresentation, since Professor Churchhad discovered the copper before the absorption bands ; and thesupposed connection of thallium and chlorophyll, which Mr. Hogghad ventured to suggest. Mr. Lankester pointed out that Mr.Hogg had omitted all reference to the really valuable physiolo-gical results obtained by examining the action of gases on theblood with the spectroscope, and had also not mentioned its usein detecting haemoglobin and chlorophyll in the lower animals,which he (Mr. Lankester) had written upon. Mr. Hogg hadpretended that sodium could be recognised in increased quantityin a cataract-lens by means of the spectroscope. This Mr.Lankester entirely denied.