206 



HARD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



MICROSCOPY. 



Quekett Microscopical Clue. — The fourteenth 

 aunual meeting was held at University College on 

 July 25, Professor T. H. Huxley, F.R.S., D.C.L., 

 president, in the chair. The report of the committee 

 referred with satisfaction to the continued prosperity 

 and usefulness of the club, the present number of 

 members being stated as five hundred and eighty. 

 Five members had died during the past year, of two of 

 whom — Mr. P. Le Neve Foster and Dr. W. Tilbury 

 Fox — brief obituary notices were given. The report 

 stated that the attendance at the meetings had been 

 greater than during any previous year, many valuable 

 papers had been read, numerous additions to the library 

 and cabinets had been made, and a new catalogue of 

 the slides in the latter had been issued. The field ex- 

 cursions during the year had to some extent been 

 interfered with by the unfavourable weather ; cordial 

 relations had been maintained with kindred societies, 

 and the report concluded with an acknowledgment 

 of the value of the services rendered by the honorary 

 officers of the society. The treasurer's annual statement 

 of account was also submitted to the meeting, and 

 showed that the total receipts had amounted to 

 £,373 l ° s - 7'?- °f which there remained a balance in 

 hand of £8j gs. 3d. The president then delivered the 

 customary annual address, in the course of which he 

 pointed out such lines of study as might be followed 

 out by the members of the club with great advantage 

 to themselves and to the interests of science at large, 

 and showed them that they were in the possession of 

 facilities for carrying such inquiries to successful 

 issues ; whilst for the reasons stated, men who had 

 taken up science as the business of their lives were 

 placed at great comparative disadvantage. Votes of 

 thanks to the president for his admirable address, to 

 the Council of University College for their continued 

 permission to meet in that building, and to the 

 officers and committee for their services during the 

 year brought the proceedings to a close. The result 

 of the ballot for officers and committee for the ensuing 

 year was as follows : President, Dr. T. Spencer 

 Cobbold, F.R.S. ; Vice-presidents, Professor Huxley, 

 Dr. Matthews, Mr. Michael, Mr. C. Stewart ; 

 Treasurer, Mr. F. W. Gay ; Hon. Sec, Mr. J. E. 

 Ingpen ; Hon. Foreign Sec, Dr. M. C. Cooke ; to 

 fill seven vacancies on the committee, Messrs. F. 

 Coles, A. Cottam, E. Dadswell, J. W. Groves, J. 

 W. Reed, J. C. Sigsworth, and T. C. White. 



The Diatomacf/e of New Forest. — Mr. Mar- 

 quand in his interesting paper on the flora of the 

 New Forest, alludes to the Diatomaceae found in that 

 neighbourhood ; among others the pentagonal variety 

 of A mphitetras antediluviana. I do not quite understand 

 whether he means that it occurs in or near the forest, 

 or on the Hampshire coast ; if the former it is very 



remarkable, as, so far as I know, the genus is purely 

 marine. I first detected it in a gathering from 

 Hayling Island, and which I described and figured 

 in Science-Gossip 1867, p. 271, as van 7. Some 

 years afterwards it occurred more plentifully in the 

 stomach contents of Ascidia from Kirkwall ; this 

 form may be the same as Greville's A. nobilis, 

 T. M. S. vol. xiii. p. 10, pi. 9, fig. 27. Surirella 

 ekgaiis (Ehr.) is by no means uncommon, and I have 

 it from several English localities, and it is very 

 frequently found in fresh-water gatherings from 

 Scotland ; it is also common in the Toome Bridge 

 deposit. It is somewhat remarkable that Smith did 

 not figure it in the " Synopsis," as I have it on a slide 

 of his mounting, mixed with S. biseriata. I can only 

 suppose he overlooked it. A very good figure of it 

 is given in Schmidt's Atlas. Surirella capronii is, I 

 believe, only a state of S. splendida, the presence 

 or absence of a spine being of no specific value. 

 My late friend M. de Brebrisson sent me a gathering, 

 in which S. capronii occurred with one spine only, 

 and sometimes without, in which condition it was 

 not distinguishable from S. splendida. Donkin's S. 

 subalpina, Q. M. J. vol. ix. N. S. pi. 18. f. 2, is probably 

 only a small state of S. elegans; this he remarks 

 "bears a close resemblance to S. limosa, Bailey 

 (Q. M. J. vol. vii. p. 179 pi. 9, f. 5)." This form is 

 not S. limosa of Bailey, as Brightwell supposed, but 

 S. elegans. I speak this with certainty, having seen 

 the original specimen. iS". limosa, Bailey = S. cardi- 

 nalis, Kitton == S. ovata, Ehrenberg (not Kutzing). 



—f. a: 



Habershaw's Catalogue of the Diatomace^e. 

 — Mr. F. Habirshaw, of New York, reproduced by 

 the Edison electric pen fifty copies of his catalogue, 

 which he generously distributed amongst the diato- 

 mists of Europe and America. This catalogue (with 

 the sanction of the author) Dr. J. Pelletan, editor of 

 the "Journal de Micrographie," proposes to publish 

 in ordinary type, and for this purpose Mr. Habirshaw 

 has corrected and rewritten the entire work. The 

 proofs are to be revised by Mr . F. Kitton, of Norwich. 

 The volume will be an 8vo., and is to appear in 

 three parts, in intervals as short as possible. The 

 subscription price is to be ten francs ; the price after 

 publication will be advanced to fifteen francs. This 

 catalogue not only gives a list of genera and species, 

 but references to the pages, plates and figures in the 

 papers of the more important writers who may have 

 written upon them ; it also gives the synonymy as 

 far as it is possible to do so. 



The American Quarterly Microscopical 

 Journal. — We regret to see an editorial announce- 

 ment, that the existence of this journal ceases with 

 the volume, the editor finding that it would be 

 impossible for him to give the necessary supervision 

 during the coming year. 



