96 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



practically nothing else occurred there. Yet another pool was 

 the exclusive preserve of Xanthidium variahile. 



The paper was greatly appreciated for its practical and useful 

 character, and at its conclusion considerable discussion took 

 place, in which Messrs. Wilson, Scourfield, Brown, Gabb, and 

 others joined. Mr. Burton, who had had some experience in 

 mounting desmids, while admiring greatly the perfection with 

 which Mr. Harris had preserved the natural colour of his speci- 

 mens, expressed a preference for staining methods which, if 

 successful, differentiated the tissues more distinctly than the 

 other. At its very best the natural colour could only be retained 

 in the chloroplast, where alone it existed, leaving the rest of the 

 specimen undifferentiated. He also feared as to the lasting 

 powers of mounts in somewhat deep cells where the medium was 

 practically water only, which always sooner or later acted on 

 the cement. In his own mounts, which were in glycerine, he 

 endeavoured to employ as dense a fluid as it was possible to use 

 without contracting the protoplasm. A hearty vote of thanks 

 was passed to Mr. Harris for his interesting and useful paper. 

 A number of specimens of desmids mounted by Mr. Harris in 

 the way described were exhibited under microscopes on the 

 table, and were greatly admired, especially for the beautiful 

 way in which the natural colour was preserved. 



At the 514th Ordinary Meeting, which was also the fiftieth 

 Annual Meeting, held on February 22nd, the President, Prof. 

 Arthur Dendy, D.Sc, F.R.S., in the chair, the minutes of the 

 meeting held on January 25th were read and confirmed. 



Messrs. Charles H. Bocock and J. J. Jackson were balloted 

 for and duly elected members of the Club. 



A series of micro, objects were exhibited by Mr. W. E. Watson 

 Baker to illustrate the results of some new mounting methods. 

 In view of the President's recent addresses on sponge spicules, 

 three specimens, viz. : A type slide of sponge spicules, a group 

 of sponge spicules from St. Peter, Hungary, and a section of 

 Euplectella mirahilis were exhibited. The first two are rather 

 rare, the mounter having died some years ago, and no one having 

 taken up the work since. A slide of an unusually perfect specimen 

 of Filaria nocturna, stained with Giemsa and mounted in neutral 

 balsam, which displayed the details of the object remarkably 



