32 TJlC I visit Xafliralisf. Febrnary. 



* 



IRISH SOCIETIES. 



DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 



December 13. — The Club met at Leinster House, N. Colgan (President) 

 in the chair. 



W. F. GuNN showed two sHdes of the myxomycete Arcyria punicea 

 Persoon, one showing the ruptured sporangia, and tlie other the capilli- 

 tium threads and spores. The species has been recorded from six out 

 of the twelve sub-provinces of Ireland. 



Prof. G. H. Carpenter showed the live pupa of a female snake-fly 

 (Raphidia) brought from the New Forest, Hampshire, by Dr. Pethybridge, 

 who had found it in old timber. This pupa is remarkable for its great 

 activity and power of movement, resembling, more than other pupae 

 of the Endopterygota, the nymph of a primitive insect. The charac- 

 teristic ovipositor is closely apposed to the dorsal aspect of the abdomen, 

 its tip directed forward. 



Sir F. W. Moore showed a parasitic fungus Colletotrichiini Orchiclearum 

 Allesch., found growing on a species of Oberonia in the Orchid-houses 

 at Glasnevin. The genus is closely allied to Gloeosporium, from which 

 it differs in having peculiar dark bristle-like sterile conidiophores ; these 

 were seen in the specimens exhibited. This fungus has previously been 

 found on orchids at Glasnevin, and in several continental Botanic Gardens. 

 It is doubtful if it has been found on orchids in a wild state. 



D. iVFArdle showed specimens of Ettrhynchiuin rusciforme Milde 

 var. inundatiim Bridel, which he recently found attached to stones in 

 a mountain stream at Killakee, Co. Dublin. Specimens were sent to a 

 well-known authority, Mr. H. N. Dixon, of Northampton, who writes : 

 " The Killakee specimens come nearer to plants labelled var. inundaium 

 than the var. prolixum." The latter has long been a desideratum in 

 Ireland. Wilson in his excellent work, " Bryologia Britannica," p. 355, 

 under H. ruscifolium. Dill, states : " In the Hookerian Herbarium there 

 is a curious variety of this species, of a very different aspect from that 

 of the typical form, from Laxlip [Leixlip], Ireland, with elongated 

 cylindrical or filiform fasciculated branches, and smaller roundish, very 

 concave leaves. It is without fruit, and deserves further investigation." 

 The variety inundatum, though not previously published as an addition 

 to the Irish cryptogamic flora, has been detected in one other county 

 (Wicklow). He also showed type specimens in fruit, and as a microscopic 

 object the capsule with the large lid and long curved beak removed, 

 exposing the bright red-coloured teeth furnished with semilunar im- 

 bricated bands for about two-thirds of their length, terminating in fine 

 hyaline points, highly hygroscopic ; annulus almost rudimentary, spores 

 mostly round with a well marked hyaline ring. 



January 10. — The Club met at Teinster Hou.se, N. Colgan (President) 

 in the chair, 



