Ike Irhh "Naturalist. January, 



Coelioxys elongata Lcp. 1 



ilaris L. / 



Megachile centuncularis L. / Portnoo. 



Nomada alternata Kirby. "j 



N. bifida Thomj--. y Tempo, about burrows of Andrena. 



N. flavoguttata Kirby J 



Bombus muscorum L. "1 t, ^. r. c ^. u 

 B. lapidarius L. / Portnoo, September. 



Acton Glebe, Poyntzpass. 



IRISH SOCIETIES. 



DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 



December ii, — The Club met at Leinster House, the President in the 

 chair. 



H. A. Lafferty exhibited preparations of Phytophthora cryptogea, 

 a new fungus recently described, having a wide range of host plants. 

 These preparations showed the peculiar formation of sporangia within 

 sporangia, which often takes place in that species. When affected plants 

 are kept with their roots in water the fungus grows out from the diseased 

 tissues into the liquid, and single sporangia, which quickly liberate their 

 zoospores, are produced on the extremities of the sporangiophores. It 

 frequently happens that a sporangiophore instead of branching laterally 

 to form a second sporangium, continues to grow into the empty first 

 formed one and produces a second within it. This in turn may liberate its 

 zoospores, and a third may be similarly formed within the second. More 

 than three sporangia produced in this way have not been observed. 



W. F. GuNN exhibited a slide showing the sporangium walls and capilli- 

 tium of Badhamia utriculavis. Berk., a species of Mycetozoa. It is one of 

 the most widely distributed species of the genus and is generally found 

 feeding on fungi such as Stereum and Polyporus. The capillitium consists 

 of a coarse network of threads, which are densely charged with granules 

 of lime which give it a snow-white appearance. 



Prof. G. H. Carpenter showed sections through the feeler of a Common 

 House-fly {Musca domestica), in the basal segment of which groups of 

 sensory cells forming nerve-endings somewhat similar in aspect to the 

 taste-buds of vertebrates were demonstrated, 



J. N. Halbert exhibited a Water-Mite, Arrhenuriis insidanus, 

 Koenike, found in a small pool at Gollierstown, near Lucan, in 

 October, 1899. The specimen is immature, being but weakly chitinized 

 and showing no trace of the circular dorsal line. The colour during life 

 is bright red. The structure of the ventral surface is characteristic 

 and agrees with the description and figures of Dr. Koenike's type 

 specimen, which was found some years ago in the island of Norderny 

 The species is apparently very rare, and the male has not yet been dis- 

 covered. 



