231 



persons in all parts of the world who were working at the same subjects as 

 themselves, and with whom they could, if they desired, readily place 

 themselves in communication. 



Mr. H. Morland read the following extract from a letter dated December 

 19th, 18S7, from Herr E. Weissflog, of Dresden: — "Among the diatoms 

 picked out from the Oamaru deposit I had one small frustuleof Craspedo- 

 porus elegans ; when dry it was difficult to see the different structure of both 

 valves. Before mounting it I passed it in a drop of water ; the latter soaked 

 into the frustule and both valves separated readily. They confirm fully 

 your view about this form ; one valve is Craspedoporus elegans, the othei 

 Porodiscus inter ruptus? 



Mr. Karop thought it was very interesting that Mr. Morland's observation 

 should have been confirmed in that way. When looking at the specimens at 

 the time they were exhibited in illustration of the paper, he had remarked 

 that they seemed to be too good a fit to be the result of casual occurrence. 



The thanks of the meeting were voted to Mr. Morland for his communica- 

 tion. 



Mr. T. F. Smith read the following supplementary note to his paper on 

 <f Butterfly and Moth Scales " read at the ordinary meeting of the Club in 

 November last : — " It was not my intention to have said anything more on 

 ' Butterfly and Moth Scales,' but since reading my last paper I have found in 

 the ' Monthly Microscopical Journal ' a paper read before the Boyal Micro- 

 scopical Society on May 3, 1871, by Dr. R. L. Maddox, in which he treats the 

 subject somewhat exhaustively and arrives at the same conclusion as myself 

 as to the nature and use of the little ro<l-like bodies between the membranes. 

 His language is as follows : Speaking of the two membranes, he says — ' The 

 inner was made up of a coarser and darker material with also pigmentary 

 deposit, in the substance of which the framework of the longitudinal ribs is 

 fixed, projecting somewhat on the free surface of the membrane facing the 

 opposite one ; but besides this, the longitudinal ribs especially, if not the 

 cross-bars, appear to be attached to the opposing surface of the outer, or next 

 membrane if three, by minute more or less wider or narrower vertical pro- 

 jections or septa — so that the ribs are bound to each other by cross-bars and 

 to the opposite membrane by short columns or attachments at very different 

 points.' Now, of course I should have found this out before reading my 

 last paper instead of after, and my only excuse is that there is no indication 

 of this structure in the three plates that accompany the paper, and coming so 

 soon after Mr. Mclntyre, who figures the structure but calls it false, I did 

 not read the letterpress until too late. I am sorry that I should have treated 

 this presence of the rod-like bodies to keep the two membranes apart as a 

 new discovery, and take this earliest opportunity of acknowledging my 

 mistake." 



The President said that no one could avoid occasionally putting forward 

 as new something which had already been published, because an exhaustive 

 search of all that had been published on any subject was for most persons a 

 matter ol impossibility. When, however, such a thing had occurred the 

 proper thing to do was what Mr. Smith had done — but which persons of 

 Journ. Q. M. C, Series II., Xo. 21. 18 



