IgS The Irish Naturalist. [July, 



Dubinin Microscopicai. Ci,ub. 



May 20. — The Club met at the house of Mr. Greenwood Pim, who 

 showed Papulaspora sepedonioidea, a minute hyphomycete, for which he 

 was indebted to a pupil of Prof. Scott. It occurred on potatoes in a 

 cellar, and presented to the naked eye a powdery stratum of a brick- 

 red colour. The m3-celium and hyphae were extremely delicate and 

 hard to detect, and were densely covered with the spores, which are 

 produced in globular heads, the individual sporidia adhering with con- 

 siderable persistence, and not readily separating. The nidus on which 

 it occurred was rather dry, which possibly accounts for the great amount 

 of spores as compared with small development of the hyphasmal portion 

 of the plant. 



Mr. G. H. Carpenter showed Eustochus atripennis^ one of the 

 Mymaridae or fairy-flies, a family of excessively minute hymenoptera, 

 whose larvae are parasitic on the eggs of other insects. For the very 

 beautifully mounted slide exhibited Mr. Carpenter was indebted to Mr. 

 F. Enock, of London, who is making a special study of the family. 



Prof. T. Johnson showed a preparation of Streblonema minimum 

 (Sauvag.), an endophytic brown alga, forming tufts, i mm. high, on old 

 Fuci. The material was collected at Dungarvan in October last, and had 

 been worked out with the help of Miss M. C. Knowles, the species being 

 new to Ireland. 



Mr. McArdl,E exhibited fertile specimens of Fossombronia angulosa, 

 Dicks., which Mr. Moore collected recently on a ditch-bank near the 

 entrance to Dingle harbour, Co. Kerry, where it grew in great abundance. 

 The plant is local in this country, and has only been found in the 

 south-west. The specimen under the microscope showed a ripe capsule 

 with spores and elaters, the spores are remarkable for their large size 

 and alveolate reticulations. 



Dr. Frazer described interesting effects produced by handling 

 Primula obconica, a Chinese plant, commonly grown in many greenhouses, 

 the leaves and stems are furnished with translucent hairs filled with 

 fluid, and it appears to be deleterious to certain susceptible individuals, 

 some of whom suffer so severely as to be unable to handle the plant in 

 any stage of its growth. The patient who brought it under Dr. Frazer's 

 notice had twice experienced its evil effects at intervals of several months. 

 It should be stated that these effects are well known to gardeners 

 though not to the public generally. 



Mr. Ai«i,AN Swan sent for exhibition Saccharomyces membranafaciens^ a 

 peculiar yeast which has been described by Hansen. It forms a yellowish 

 scum on the surface of liquids in which it grows favourably, and will 

 produce its endospores rapidly by the usual gypsum black method, but 

 unlike most yeasts, these spores also regularly appear on the nutrient 

 gelatine of surface-cultivations in tubes. This yeast is peculiar from the 

 fact that it does not bring about alcoholic fermentation in solutions of 

 the carbo-hydrates, nor has it any effect in inverting cane sugar. 



