572 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



the fact that Mr. Bens, in his celebrated excursion to the Congo, when 

 he was passing the shores of Banana, saw a large quantity of a greenish 

 mass, of which he obtained three bottles full, and, to his surprise, it con- 

 sisted of what bacteriologists would call a pure culture of the Aulacodiscus 

 africanus. If only a few were washed away, and if that peculiar tribe 

 required a certain environment, those which were washed away would 

 easily die, and consequently specimens would rarely be met with. But a 

 strong objection to that was contained in the question, was' it likely that 

 100 varieties would each require a separate growing ground ? Thus the 

 point was a very difficult one, but perhaps some Fellows present might 

 be able to throw light upon it. The real point for which he rose was 

 to express thanks to Mr. Norman Thomas for presenting to the Society 

 the specimens of the A. superb us, which were so very rare, for of course 

 it was of great academic interest to possess them. The reason that the 

 specimens did not correspond to the drawings might be due to the fact 

 that the latter were made as far back as 1857, the objectives in use at that 

 time being very different in defining power to those of the present day. 

 The thanks of the Society were tendered, by acclamation, to Mr. 

 Beck, Mr. Allan, Professor Emrys- Roberts, and Mr. Norman-Thomas, for 

 their exhibits. 



Papers by Mr. James Strachan : (1) "On the Structure of Scales 

 from Tkermobia domestical and (2) " A Description of a Model pro- 

 ducing an Optical Effect similar to the Ouneate Markings on Insects' 

 Scales," were read by Mr. F. Shillington Scales. 



The President remarked that to those who, like himself, knew but 

 little of this kind of work, the worst of such papers was that they 

 tended to destroy one's faith in the Microscope ; apparently one could 

 produce any appearance one wished, if only one knew how to do it. No 

 doubt it was really only the little knowledge that was dangerous. 



The Paper by Mr. James Murray, " Rotifera of New Zealand and 

 South Africa, collected by the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition," being 

 the concluding paper of the series, was taken as read. 



The Meeting concluded with the carrying of thanks to Messrs. 

 Watson and Sons for the loan of Microscopes. 



The following Instruments, Objects, etc., were exhibited : — 

 Mr. Conrad Beck : An Interferometer ; a New Portable Microscope, 



suggested by Mr. James Murray. 

 .Mr. F. Shillington Scales: A New Microscopical Lamp, designed by 

 Prof. E. Emrys Roberts ; a Variable Eye-piece designed by Mi-. 

 M. J. Allan : a Slide of Navicular, sent by Mr. Allan for identifica- 

 tion ; a Model, Micro-slides and Lantern-slides, in illustration of 

 Mr. St radian's papers. 

 The Society : Two Slides of Aulacodiscus superbus. 



New Fellows :— The following were elected Ordinary Fellows of the 

 Society :— Prof. S. I). Chalmers, Mr. Charles Panzetta Chatwin, and the 

 following was nominated as an Ordinary Fellow : W. E. Garforth. 



