4 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



also by the latter, a well-preserved specimen of the Porbeagle shark — Lamna cor- 

 nubica, captured in Dingle Bay. The Iceland gull, Larus Islandicus, handsome 

 specimens of the hawfinch, Coccothraustes vulgaris, and the mountain finch, Em- 

 herJza montium, have also been presented by Dr. Harvey, of Cork, and Messrs. 

 Williams and Donibrain ; and some very fine specimens of lanthina, collected on 

 the west coast by Mr. Hopkins. A sub-committee in the several branches of zoology 

 having recently been formed, the society is now in a better position to receive and 

 to arrange in the museum any donations that may be forwarded, the collection 

 l>eing altogether confined to objects of the Natural History of Ireland. The mem- 

 bers added to the Society during the past year have more than equalled any with- 

 drawals or losses the Society may have sustained, and the ballot of this evening will 

 denote the vigour with which the Society is about to enter upon another session. A 

 principal feature in the business of the society has been the union of the late Micro- 

 scopical Society. Some time since arrangements for the union of the two societies 

 were drawn out, which received the assent of the principal members of the Micro- 

 scopical Society. The microscope, books, and the accounts of that society have 

 now been transferred, and a sub-committee of practical men in microscopic manipu- 

 lation nominated. It is thus anticipated that an interesting field of research is open 

 to the members of the Society, especially in cryptogamic botany, in the examina- 

 tion of vegetable and animal tissues, and in minute organisms. By this union, 

 members of the late Microscopical Society are placed upon the same terms, without 

 ballot, as the annual members of this Society. To increase further the interest of 

 the Society, it has been strongly advocated by many of the members that the pro- 

 ceedings of the Society should assume a more popular style, and a more general 

 admission of visitors be allowed. It is, therefore, submitted for your approval, 

 that a limited number of evenings throughout the session be named for that pur- 

 pose, apart from the usual scientific meetings, and that to these meetings the fami- 

 lies of the members and their friends be admitted, according to the arrangements 

 that may be proposed by the committee who have been appointed to consider and 

 to report upon the practicability of carrying out these views. The subjects pro- 

 posed are " Zoophytes and algaj," '' On marine, and land and fresh-water shells," 

 '' On ferns, their habit and culture." 



On being moved by Dr. Gordon, seconded by Mr. G. Sanders, the above report 

 was unanimously adopted ; and it was arranged that a committee should be ap- 

 pointed to carry out the recommendation of the council with reference to holding 

 meetings of a popular character during the session, apart from the ordinary meet- 

 ings of the institution. 



Mr. R. P. Williams, treasurer, then submitted his statement, showing a balance 

 of jt'20 18s. lOd. to bo added to the reserve fund, making a gross balance of £60 

 18s. lOd. over all expenses. The society had existed for seventeen years, during 

 which time it had overcome many diflSculties. By the exertion of its members it 

 had been kept alive in the time of the famine, and it was now beginning to return to 

 a state of prosperity. They had lately taken the handsome and capacious rooms 

 in which they were then assembled, and he believed that, with a little exertion on 

 the part of the fifty-five members who belonged to it, they would shortly have an 

 income of about 1200 a year, with which they would be enabled to extend their 

 sphere of usefulness in no inconsiderable degree. Nine new members would be 

 proposed t)n that night, which was an evidence that an efibrt was now making in 

 this direction. 



A ballot was then opened, and the following were elected members of the 

 Society : — 



Associate Members — Messrs. Ryland Byrne and Daniel Sutherland, Boyal 

 Sappers and Miners. 



General Members — Dr. William Stokes, 5, Merrion -square. North ; Colonel 

 Gough, C.B. ; Hev. Samuel llaughton, F.T.C.D. ; Dr. Corbett, Professor of Ana- 

 tomy, &c., Cork ; James E. Millar, Esq. ; Dr. Cathcart Lees. 



Dr. Smith, 63, Eccles-street, has re-joined as a member ; and George Yeates, 

 Esq., Grafion-street, as a member of the late Microscopical Society. 



The meeting was then adjourned. 



