136 The Irish Naiutahst. [Maj^ 



PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES. 



Royal Zooi^ogicai, Society. 



Recent gifts include a pair of white Guinea-fowl from Mr. J Da'y, and 

 two Diana ]Monkeys from Captain R. Irvine. 

 8,761 persons visited the Gardens in March. 



Dubinin Microscopicai, Ci,ub. 



March 18.— The Club met at the house of Prof. G. A. J. Coi^E, who 

 showed a section of volcanic ash from Montrose, Jamaica, containing a 

 fragment of granite, doubtless exploded upward from some fundamental 

 series through which the andesitic lavas broke. The specimen was fur- 

 nished by the Institute of Jamaica. 



Mr. F. W. Moore showed Nectria lagena^ Massee, a new species of 

 Nectria, exhibited for the first time. It was found growing on a pseudo- 

 bulb of Odontoglossum Oerstedtii, a native of Costa-Rica, cultivated in the 

 cool Orchid house at Glasnevin. The plant had been in cultivation for 

 several years, and hitherto this Nectria had not been found on it ; in fact 

 all the imported pseudo-bulbs had decayed away, and Nectria lagena was 

 found growing on one which had been formed by the plant in its present 

 quarters. It is a pretty and distinct species, of a bright orange red 

 colour. 



Mr. Greenwood Pim showed Hysierographium Fraxini, an interesting 

 fungus growing usually on dead ash twigs. The spores were olive 

 yellow, with numerous septa, both longitudinal and transverse, producing 

 the structure called "muricate," from its similarity to masonry. 



Mr. M'ArdIvE exhibited the cell structure and plants of Adelanthus 

 decepiens, Hook., which he found on the shores of Lough Guitane, a new 

 Kerry station, when collecting for the Flora and Fauna Committee of the 

 Royal Irish Academy in November, 1893. The plant is one of the re- 

 markable instances of a Hepatic common to Ireland, the West Indies, 

 and the Andes of South America. 



Dr. C. Herbert Hurst exhibited Edinger's Projection Apparatus 

 made by Leitz. The light from a paraffin lamp after passing through a 

 large condenser is reflected vertically downwards through a second 

 condenser upon the microscopical slide, the second condenser being 

 adjustable so as to concentrate the light upon just so much of the 

 object as it is desired to "project." A second stage supports the 

 projecting lens under the object, and the image is received on a white 

 card below. 



The utility of the apparatus for purposes of demonstration is very 

 great, and with more powerful illumination it could be used even with 

 very high magnification, as ordinary microscopical objectives may be 

 used with advantage in place of the projecting lenses supplied with the 

 apparatus. In its present form, however, the apparatus has some serious 

 defects. It lacks rigidity, and the image is consequently displaced on 



