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PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



AN ORDINARY MEETING 



OF THE Society was held at No. 20 Hanover Square, W., 

 ON Wednesday, April 18th, 1917, Mr. E. Heron-Allen, 

 F.L.S. F.Ct.S, etc.. President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the preceding Meeting, having been circulated, were 

 taken as read, confirmed, and signed by the President. 



Mr. Frank W. Lacy was elected a Fellow, by ballot, and the 

 following three nominations were announced : Mr. Ernest Atkinson, 

 Mr. Charles Llewellyn H. Tripp, and Dr. Alfred B. Hitchins. 



The President said the Society had to thank Mr. William Beattie 

 for contributing to the Cabinet six mounts of sewage organisms from an 

 open-top cesspool. Also an extremely fine publication, namely, the 

 second Geological Report of the British Antarctic Expedition, that of 

 Sir Ernest Shackleton, which had been presented by the publishers. He 

 was sure it would be the pleasure of those present to return the thanks of 

 the Society to the donors of those contributions. 



Thanks were accorded by acclamation. 



Mr. D. J. Scourfield said he thought the exhibit he was making of 

 Sphserceca volvox might interest some of the Fellows. It was some- 

 thing like a very small Volvox, but it was not green. The little 

 organisms forming the colony were true animals, and belonged to the 

 class Choanoflagellata, which were sometimes called " collared monads." 

 It was particularly interesting, because one saw here an association of 

 these collared monads on the surface of a sphere very similar to those 

 which occurred inside the more or less spherical chambers in sponges. 

 The drawings on the blackboard represented a colony, with about a 

 hundred individuals, and a single individual showing the collar. When 

 looking at the object under the Microscope the collars are very difficult 

 to see in their entirety. The edges could be perceived, but to see the 

 rim of the little hyaline collar or vase, from the bottom of which the 

 flagellum started, was a very fine test of microscopic work. He hoped 

 that those who had not yet seen this particular form would take the 

 opportunity now ; he had not himself seen it at any of the Society's 

 Meetings, and, although probably not very rare, was not mentioned in 

 Kent's "Manual of the Infusoria," having been first described in 1899 

 by Lauterborn. 



