QUEKETT MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 345 



At the 526 th Ordinary Meeting of the Club, held on June 26th, 

 the President, Dr. A. B, Rendle, F.R.S., in the chair, the minutes 

 of the meeting held on May 22nd were read and confirmed. 



Messrs. Rob. H. Thomas, W. T. Waller, Henry Williams, 

 Stanley Lindwall, Joseph Edgar and J. Goodhart Evans were 

 balloted for, and duly elected members of the Club. 



The appointment of Mr. Frederic J. Cheshire — a member of 

 the Club — as head of the new Department at the Imperial Col- 

 lege, with the title Director of Technical Optics and Professor 

 of Technical Optics at the Imperial College, was referred to by 

 the chairman. 



Mr. Burton called attention to an exhibit under a microscope 

 on the table, which appeared like a cellular membrane, the cells 

 more or less hexagonal in shape. He said at the Club's excur- 

 sion to Ealing the surface of one of the ponds was to a large 

 extent covered with a thick green scum, which also spread over 

 grasses and various objects floating on the water. This proved 

 to be Euglena viridis in an encysted state. When conditions 

 w^ere favourable the euglenae often rose to the surface, and there 

 became encysted, each individual assuming a spherical form and 

 surrounding itself with a firm cell-wall. When very numerous, 

 owing to pressure the cells become hexagonal, or distorted, and 

 adhering together, form a kind of skin or pellicle ; it was an 

 instance of this which caused the appearance noticed at Ealing. 

 After a time division into two (or sometimes four) takes place 

 in most of the individuals, which then emerge, leaving the empty 

 and colourless cells floating. As they have some amount of 

 cohesion they may continue as a thin pellicle for a time. It has 

 been mistaken for an alga, and was described as such. By care- 

 ful management portions may be brought away, and can then 

 be mounted as a permanent object. 



Mr. N. E. Brown, A.L.S., then gave an address on '' Evolu- 

 tion as Illustrated by a Genus of Plants." He passed round a 

 small flower-pot, which contained four very singular-looking 

 plants ; they were cone-shaped, with the apex downwards, of 

 various sizes up to about 1| in. high, and each had a small orifice 

 resembling a closed mouth at the top. He said : " Each of the 

 specimens is a distinct species, and, although very small, each is 

 a full-gTown adult individual that has reached the flow^ering 

 stage, and although each will branch and ultimately form a small 



