QUEKETT MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 199* 



ber of his specimens. The Committee had accepted this very 

 kind gift, and had directed that a letter of thanks be sent ta 

 Mrs. Priest. He thought that the members would like to endorse- 

 the action of their committee. This proposal was heartily 

 assented to by those present. 



Mr. W. Traviss exhibited and described an apparatus which 

 he thought would be useful in pond collecting. It consisted of 

 a hollow rod, about the length of an ordinary walking-stick, to 

 one end of which was attached a triangular scraper. This also 

 was hollow, and in communication with the interior of the rod. 

 The top of the rod being closed by a finger, and the scraper being- 

 drawn over brickwork, wood, and similar objects under water^ 

 on removing the finger the water would rush into the tube 

 carrying with it any organisms that had been removed by the- 

 scraper, they could be then transferred to the collecting-bottle^ 

 The action of the apparatus was similar to that of a dipping- 

 tube on a large scale. The Chairman considered that the 

 instrument would prove useful for the purpose for which it was 

 intended, and proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Traviss for 

 bringing it before them, which was accorded. 



The Chairman, introducing a paper by Mr. H. Wallis Kew^ 

 entitled " An Historical Account of the Pseudo-Scorpion Fauna 

 of the British Isles," said Mr. Wallis Kew was a well-known 

 authority on these creatures, which were unfortunately not 

 much studied. The paper was a valuable one, and though 

 there was not time to read it on this occasion it would appear- 

 in full in the Journal. Thanks were accorded to Mr. Wallis^ 

 Kew for his communication. 



Mr. A. E. Hilton then read a paper on " The Sporangia! 

 Characters of Mycetozoa and the Factors which influence them." 

 He said : It is, perhaps, not sufficiently realised that in the 

 small group of the Mycetozoa we have not only a convenient 

 microcosm of elementary biological phenomena, but also a clue^ 

 to the solution of some of the problems which these phenomena 

 present. Applying to the Mycetozoa words used by an eminent 

 physiologist in a similar connection, it may be said of these 

 primitive organisms that they show with singular clearness how 

 " quite simple combinations of well-known forces lead to the^ 

 performance of complicated and apparently purposeful results."^ 

 In the light of this luminous principle, which is true of all living. 



