no The Irish Naturalist. 



behind the bod}-, forming a marsupium or pouch in which the eggs are 

 carried. The winged male is very rare. This is a northern species 

 ranging through Lapland, Greenland, Scotland, and northern England 

 and Ireland ; it has been found in recent years in the Styrian Alps. Mr 

 H. C. Hart was the first to notice it in Ireland (in 1880), in Cos. Donegal 

 and Wicklow. Rev. W. F. Johnson has also found it near Armagh. 



Mr. Duerden exhibited slides of Campanulina tnrrita, obtained from 

 various parts of the coast of Ireland. This species, so far as is known, has 

 only been obtained from Irish waters. It was first found by Professor 

 Wyville Thomson in Belfast Lough, and the description of the species in 

 Hincks's " Brit. Hydroid Zoophytes " is based upon his figure. At an 

 early stage the colony is of a very simple type, single hydrothecae rising 

 from the creeping stolon. Later the colony becomes larger, and much 

 branched. A fine colony, bearing the gonothecae, was shown growing on 

 the spider-crab Stenorhynchus rostratus and extending even to the ends of 

 the antennae. 



Mr. H. H. Dixon showed longitudinal sections of the ovules of 

 Galanthns nivalis and HyacintJms orientalis stained in mixtures of saffranine 

 and iodine green, and also of fuchsin and iodine green. With these stains 

 the polar nuclei and the secondary nucleus of the embryo sac become 

 red, while the nuclei of the antipodal cells become brilliant blue, i.e. the for- 

 mer are erythrophil, and the latter cyanophil. The synergidae and the 

 oosphere are faintly cyanophil. The nucleolus oftheantipodalcellsis small 

 and stains brilliant red. There is a large red nucleolus in the oosphere. In 

 the nuclei of the endosperm formed later on, there are very large and 

 brilliant red nucleoli which, as is usual, are situated in a vacuole in 

 the nucleus. 



Mr. M'ArdlE exhibited Coliirolejeunea calyptrifolia, Hook, a rare liver- 

 wort which is very minute, and is generally found growing epiphytic on 

 the larger Hepaticae. The leaves are two-lobed, the superior the largest, 

 which is elongated and formed into a shape which, in no small degree, 

 resembles the calyptra of some mosses ; the opening at the base in the 

 younger leaves is overlapped by half the sub-quadrate inferior lobe; the 

 stipules (underleaves) are oblong, closely adpressed and deeply divided into 

 two acute lobes. The specimens were collected at O'Sullivan's Cascade, 

 Killarney, by exhibitor, in November, 1893. The plant is also remarkable 

 as being the only British representative of the five known species which 

 are placed in the genus by Dr. R. Spruce in his work on the Hepaticae 

 Amazonicae et Andince. Mr. M'Ardle drew attention to an interesting 

 article on the "Adaptation in Liverworts," published in the March 

 number of Natural Science, by Mr. Jesse Reeves. 



Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society. 



April 3rd. — Prof. William Knight, LL.D., lectured on the Higher 

 Education of Women. 



Belfast Naturalists' Field Club. 



March 20th. — This was the annual meeting of the Microscopical Sec- 

 tion. The Secretary of the Club (Mr. F. J. BiGGER) read the report of the 

 Section, which was adopted. ' Mr. P. F. Gulrransen read a paper 

 entitled "Why do objects appear larger when viewed through a Micro- 

 scope ? " The Microscopical Committee was re-elected, with the addition 

 of the name of Prof. Symington. The meeting then resolved itself into 

 a conversazione, and the members examined the large display of micro- 

 scopical objects and apparatus that was spread on the tables. 



March 29th. — Mr. William Gray, M.R.I. A., gave a lecture on the 

 Holy Wells of Ireland. 



April 10th.— Mr. George Coffey, M.R.I. A., delivered a lecture on 

 the Pagan Cemeteries and Burial Customs of Ancient Ireland. 



