200 The Irish Naturalist. 



PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES. 



Royal Zoological Society. 



Recent donations comprise a mongoose from Mrs. Taylor ; a seal 

 from R. Chambers, Esq. ; a Cow-bird, a Red-headed Cardinal, a pair of 

 Pekin Bantams, and two Wax-bills from J. B. O'Callaghan, Esq. ; three 

 Corn-crakes from J. A. Cnrran, Esq. ; a pair of Long-eared Owls from L. 

 Owens, Esq. ; a pair of Canadian Ducks from H. M. Barton. Esq. ; four 

 Rabbits from Master R. L. Weldon ; three Turtle-doves from C. J. 

 Wallace, Esq. ; and a Water-rail from Mr. Keegan. A Golden Agouti, 

 two Java Peacocks, and two Wallabys have been acquired by purchase. 



15,780 persons visited the Gardens in July. 



Dublin Microscopical Club. 

 June 2 1 st.— The Club met at Mr. F. W. Moore's. 



PROF. T. Johnson exhibited Litosiphon laminaria, Harv., a brown sea- 

 weed to be found growing in small tufts, epiphytically on Alaria esculenta, 

 Grew, near low-water mark all round the Irish coast. The interest of the 

 specimen was that it showed plurilocular sporangia, hitherto unobserved, 

 and filaments bearing unilocular sporangia also, an unusual feature in any 

 broAvn alga. Comparison of the species with Pogotrichum hibernicum, 

 Johnson, was made. 



Dr. M'Weeney showed a slide of a curious species of Fusarium that 

 occurred in a zooglcea on the surface of a specially-devised nutrient liquid 

 which had been sterilised and then inoculated with a small trace of solid 

 sewage sludge. In addition to the usual sickle-shaped, triseptate spores, 

 smaller oval ones occurred intercalated on the mycelium, as well as 

 terminally, on exceedingl} 7 thin, lateral, alt ernating branches. Mixed with 

 the hyphse, but not organically connected therewith, were very numerous 

 circular resting-spore-like bodies with tw T o thick, highly-refractive 

 coats, and a relatively small amount of granular protoplasm in the centre. 

 Man) 7 of these bodies attained a diameter of 20//, and were surrounded 

 by a sort of halo of finely granular mucoid-looking material. Thousands 

 of such bodies occurred in the zooglcea, giving it a peculiar opaque and 

 patchy appearance to the naked e} r e. The mass of the zooglcea was 

 made up of the Fusarium, the bodies just described, and bacteria. The 

 only other organism present was a sort of uniflagellate monadine, which 

 jerked about with great rapidity, and was to be seen in various stages of 

 division, first into two, then into four segments, each of which assumed 

 a flagellum, and after rotating together with the others within a highly 

 transparent cyst wall, ultimately became free. Fortified by the opinion 

 of Prof. Marcus Hartog, to whom he had submitted fresh preparations, 

 the exhibitor was inclined to regard the thick-walled " resting-spore " 

 as part of the monadine's cycle of development rather than as belonging 

 to the Fusarium, with which it was certainly closely intermixed, but, 

 even with the best lenses, not organically connected. The double wall 

 of the object gave no cellulose reaction. The central protoplasm had 

 been seen to escape as an amceoid body through the inner wall, but had 

 not been seen to emerge through the outer covering. 



Mr. M'ArdlE exhibited Jungermania attenuata, Lindenberg, an addition 

 to the list of Irish Hepatica:, which he collected in some quantity on the 

 hill of Howth in April and May of the present year, growing on peaty 

 soil amongst limestone rocks in company w T ith TetrapJiis pellucida, Hedwig, 

 a pretty minute moss, with filiform erect stems, which has not been pre* 

 viously reported from the Count) 7 Dublin. Mr. W. H. Pearson, of Man- 

 chester, who verified Mr. M'Ardle's specimens of the liverwort, states 

 that he believes Jungermania gracilis, vSchleich., has priority over attenuata, 

 Lindenberg, which is a pity, as the latter name is far the better. 



