22 Thcbish Naturalist. 



PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES. 



ROYATv ZOOLOGICAI, SOCIETY. 



Recent donations comprise a Chough from R. Brennan, Esq. ; a pair 

 of Pigeons from Master W. Stubbs ; a Heron from H. C. Carey, Esq ; a 

 Guinea-pig from J. Condon, Esq.; a I.ong-earcd Owl and a Sparrow-hawk 

 from Captain Carpendale ; a Persian Cat from ]\Iiss Maher; a Pheasant 

 from W. J. Williams, Esq. ; and a Herring-gull from R. V. Sinclair, Esq, 

 A number of fish, including Gunfish, Catfish, Bass, Carp, Tench, &c., 

 have been purchased for the aquarium. 



3,500 persons visited the Gardens in November. 



DUBTvIN MlCROSCOPICAI, Cl.UB. 



November 15th.— The Club met at Mr. G. H. CarpENTER'vS, who 

 showed rows of teeth on the front tarsi of species of Corixa. These, 

 drawn across the edge of the face of the insect, are believed to produce a 

 stridulation. They were described and figured by exhibitor in the 

 Irish Naturalist for December, 1894 (p. 253). 



Prof. Cole exhibited a section of a rock found in an old collection, 

 labelled " Pyromerine, I. of Elba." The peculiarity of this specimen lies 

 in the fact that the spherulites consist of a well-developed soda-horn- 

 blende, the delicate needles of which spread outward from certain centres 

 through a grovmd of minute micropegmatite, the latter being formed as 

 usual of quartz and felspar. The spherulites in the old " pyromerides " 

 of Corsica are, on the other hand, of the ordinary felspathic type, but 

 developed on a large scale. 



Mr. Moore showed Chlaviydococats pluvialis, Br, a curious and interest- 

 ing species of very varying nature, both as to size and shape as well as 

 colour. Some of the individuals w-ere green, others red or brown, and 

 partially green and partially red. It belongs to the Volvocineas and is 

 closely allied to the "red snow" C/ila/nydococciis nivalis. The specimens 

 had been found under the down-pipe from the roof of Roman Catholic 

 Church near Glasnevin, the stones under the spout appearing as if they 

 had received a coat of red paint. 



Mr. M'Ardle exhibited a specimen of llcrhirta adiinca, Dicks (B. Gr.), 

 a liverwort which he collected last May on Connor Hill near Dingle, 

 where it grows in large tufts. The leaves are arranged in four roM's of a 

 bright yellow colour, ovate lanceolate in outline, secund, deeply divided 

 into two attenuated lobes. Their structure is interesting ; the cells are 

 well defined ; those at the base of the leaf and along the centre of its two 

 segments are linear, and of a different shape from the others, and have 

 thicker walls forming a pseudo-nerve ; the outer cells are crenated, with 

 the surface raised into delicate stride. This distinct plant is held by many 

 good authorities to be the Irish form of a Himala3'an liverwort collected by 

 Sir J. D. Hooker, known under the name oi Sendtmra junipcrinay Swartz. 



Dr. M'WeENEY showed cultures and slides of Strt'p(olhrix nigra Gas- 

 perini, a peculiar form intermediate in position between the Schizomycetes 

 and the higher Eungi, found by him in a brownish stratum of clay about 

 three feet below the surface at the Richmond Asylum, Dublin. The 

 organism consists of tufted masses of branching threads resembling 

 mycelium, were it not for their extreme tenuity (.5 — \\i). The colonies 

 on various nutrient materials become surrounded by a very conspicuous 

 brownish-black pigment. When they have attained a certain age they 

 become whitish and flocculent at the periphery. This corresponds to 

 the formation of aerial branches the apices of which swell up, and come 

 to contain minute spores. The ray-fungus, to which the now well-known 

 Actinomycosis is due, belongs to the genus Strepiothrix and is closely 

 allied to the present species, which was first found in earth and soil about 

 two years ago by Gasperini and subsequently rather abundantly in the 

 air of Rome and other places in Italy by Rossi Doria. This is the first 

 note of its occurrence in the British Isles, 



