91 



May 27th, 1870 — Chairman, Dr. R. Braithwaite, F.L.S., V.P. 



The following donations were announced : — 



" The Monthly Microscopical Journal" from the Publisher. 



"Science Gossip" the Publisher. 



" Land and Water " (weekly) the Publisher. 



Eeport of the Surgeon General U.S.A. on the 



Magnesium and Electric lights as applied / . 



, & „. , , . -i i V Lieut.-Colonel 



to Microphotography, accompanied by > _ , 



eleven Photographs in illustration of the 



results obtained by both means. 



Two Slides. Sections of Granite from Mount") -^ j^^g 



Olll ell* ■•• ••• ••• ••• ••• J 



Twelve Slides. Various Mr. Quick. 



The American Naturalist, Vol. iv., No. 3 by Exchange. 



The thanks of the Club were voted to the donors. 



The following gentlemen were balloted for and duly elected members of the 

 Club : — Mr. H. G. Brigham, Mr. George Dransfield Brown, Mr. Henry Hay ward, 

 Mr. T. W. Home, Dr. Henry Medlock. 



Mr. Waller read a paper ' ' On the Conjugation of Actinophrys Sol," illustrating 

 the subject by diagrams. 



The Chairman was sure that all would join him in proposing a hearty vote of 

 thanks to Mr. Waller, for his able and interesting paper, which was a challenge 

 thrown down to members, so many of whom at this season of the year were 

 engaged in collecting. They would, no doubt, notice that it was not sufficient 

 to look at the specimens and then throw them away j they must keep on ob- 

 serving them carefully at short intervals to meet with success. There had been 

 many writers upon this subject — one of the principal writers, Kolliker, does not 

 allude to this method of conjugation described by Mr. Waller, but refers their 

 reproduction to the process of gemmation. Dr. Wallich, however, in 1863 — 

 some time after Mr. Waller had made his observations— noticed this process, 

 and thought at the time that it was fission taking place ; but on looking a short 

 time afterwards he saw that the two individuals had become one, and then he 

 became satisfied that it was conjugation, but he did not appear to have noticed 

 the escape of the small bodies seen by Mr. Waller. These observations were 

 very interesting, from their bearing upon the question of the distinctions 

 between the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Some of the small algae or fuci 

 were known to reproduce by conjugation. No one else appeared to have seen 

 the eruption of granules observed by Mr. Waller ; it was a most interesting ob- 

 servation, which, it was hoped, would be repeated, so that an opportunity might 

 be given for examination with higher powers than those yet employed, for the 

 purpose of ascertaining whether they were furnished with cilia. With regard 

 to the leaping of a species, to which reference had been made in the paper, he 

 believed it might easily be explained by the elastic nature of the Pseudopodia, 

 the motion caused by which might easily be mistaken for a leap, under the 

 microscope. 



Mr. T. C White expressed the happiness he had in seconding Dr. Braith- 

 waite's vote of thanks, and he hoped that many of the members would follow 

 the example of Mr. Waller, who had not only made a series of careful observa- 

 tions, but had also made drawings of what he had seen— a matter of very great 

 importance. It was suggested some time since, after the reading of a paper by 



