I9I3- Irish Societies. 17 
December 10. — W. F. Gunn (Piesident) in the chair. Thirty -two 
members and visitors were present. Officers and Meml.iers of Committee 
having been nominated for the coming year, T. HalHssy opened a discussion 
on the present condition of the Club, in which the President, Miss Conan, 
Prof. Carpenter, and Messrs. Halbert, Barrington, Praeger, and Dunlop 
also took part. At the close of the meeting a number of interesting exhibits 
were shown, demonstrations in every case being given by the exhibitors. 
I. N. Hai.bert exhibited a ground beetle, Platyderus ruficollis, new to 
Ireland : C. M. Selbie, a specimen of the deep-sea decapod, Polycheles 
gnniulaiii^ ; R. Ll. Praeger, some hybrid Saxifrages ; W. F. Gunn, 
statoblasts of Cristatella wiiceclo, a fresh -water Pol5^zoan ; N. Coi.can, 
radulae of Marine Mollusca, and spicules of bolothurians. 
DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 
November 13. — The Club met at Leinster House, D. M'Ardle (Vice- 
President) in the chair. 
W. F. Gunn exhibited seed of Cineraria cruenta, the well known and 
extensively-grown greenhouse plant, belonging to the order Compositasj 
It is a native of the Canary Islands, and was introduced to cultivation 
in 1777. The seeds were shown by reflected light under a magnification 
of 24-5 diameters (i|-inch objective). Thej^ are roughly cylindrical in 
form, tapering slightly at one end with rather prominent ridges running 
longitudinally from top to bottom. Between these ridges, in perfect 
specimens, are two rows of scales which in appearance closely resemble 
those on the wings of butterflies and moths, and these were the append- 
ages to which particular attention was drawn. They are apparently 
modified hairs, which are so often found on the seeds of other genera of 
this order. Being perfectly white in colour they show up distinctly on 
the black or dark brown surface of the seed. 
D. M'Ardle showed one of the foliose group of the Hepaticae, Ceplia- 
lozia connivens Dicks. The whole plant, which was in fruit, is of a very 
delicate and fragile structure, and excepting the stem which is about one 
inch long and eight cells thick, all the other parts consist of rows of single 
cells. The stem is frequently flagelliferous, bearing copious root-hairs 
which convey moisture to the delicate plant body. The leaves are sub- 
orbiculate in shape, divided to one-third from apex, segments acuminate, 
connivent, cell-walls thick, leaves all decurrent. The bracts 
surrounding the perianth in three pairs, the inner twice as long as the 
leaves, divided into three or five subulate segments, the perianth is pyri- 
form in shape, ciliate at the mouth, calyptra very short and delicate, 
capsule oblong, globose. The species is evenly distributed in wet bogs 
through Ireland, found also in England, Scotland, the Continent, and in 
North America. 
Prof. G. H. Carpenter showed specimens of Glyciphagus domesticus, 
a tyroglyphid mite, which he had received in a sample of oatmeal from 
Co. Cork, drawing attention to the elegantly slender legs and the deh- 
cately plumose bristles which characterise this species. It is a widely 
distributed store -house " guest " in Great Britain, and is probably of 
general occurrence in Ireland. 
