I 50] 



PROCKBDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIKS. 



RoYAi, Zooi^oGiCAi, Society. 

 Recent donations include a Badger from W. A. Robinson, Bsq. ; four 

 Rabbits from Master Moloney; a Squirrel from W. Despard, Esq.; a 

 Goat from W. Dick, Esq. ; and a Syrian Rat from H. Napier, Esq. Two 

 Black Swans have been acquired by exchange. 



Dubinin Microscopicai, Ci,ub. 



December 15th.— The Club met at Dr. E. J. M'WeEney'S, who 

 showed — 



Sections of the Swimming Bladder of Barbels affected with disease due to 

 the presence of parasitic Protozoa. The wall of the bladder contains 

 numerous small cyst-like cavities, stujEfed with peculiar boat-shaped 

 bodies, psorosperms of parasitic Protozoa belonging to the class Myxo- 

 sporidia. These arise in the interior of the shapeless masses of amoeboid 

 protoplasm which constitute the fully-developed parasite. The nuclei of 

 the sarcode-mass arrange themselves in groups of three ; each of these 

 groups becomes surrounded by a wall, and forms a psorosperm. Two of 

 the nuclei are symmetrically placed at one end of the psorosperm and 

 give rise to the so called pole-capsules ; the other occupies a mesial 

 position towards the other end. When the psorosperm germinates, this 

 latter nucleus creeps out, with a little protoplasm, in an amoeboid form 

 and coalesces with others to form the huge, shapeless, perfect condition 

 of the parasite. The specimens exhibited had been kindly sent by Dr. 

 L. P. Peiffer of Weimar, the greatest European authority on parasitic 

 Protozoa. Special attention is being at present directed to them as the 

 probable producers of cancer. 



Sections of Carinopora hindei, a polyzoan from the Devonian rocks of 

 Ontario, lent by Dr. G. J. Hinde, F.G.S., were shown by Prof. C01.E. 

 This genus resembles a Fenestella with greatly developed keels along the 

 ribs, indicating how Hemitrypa may have arisen by an extreme extension 

 of this structure, intermediate genera being now known. 



Triticella hceckii, G. O Sars, a species of Polyzoa new to Britain, was ex- 

 hibited by Mr. J. E. Duerden. The species was founded by G. O. Sars, 

 who obtained specimens from Christiana Sound growing on the carapace 

 and appendages of Geryonis tridentis, and this is the only locality from 

 which it has been recorded up to the present. In his description of 

 Triticella korenii, Sars, in the "British Marine Polyzoa," p. 546, Hincks 

 mentions that it is possible T. hceckii may occur on our coasts, and he 

 therefore gives one of Sars woodcuts of its shape. On examining the 

 crustaceans obtained from Berehaven by the Royal Irish Academy Survey 

 in 1885 a specimen of Portunus depurator was found with its eye-stalks and 

 front carapace almost entirely covered with Triticella. On examining 

 these under the microscope it was at once seen that they were different 

 from T. korenii, which has been found ver}^ abundantly on the west coast 

 of Ireland. They agreed fully with the figure and characters of T. bceckii 

 given by Hincks, and with the more detailed description given by Sars 

 himself in the Forhandlingcr Videnskabs-Sclskahet, Christ, for 1873. The west 

 coast of Ireland has proved itself very rich in forms belonging to the rare 

 and peculiar polyzoan family TriticcUidcc, being the only place in Britain 

 from which Triticella bosckii, Sars, has been recorded. Hippuraria cgertoni, 

 Busk, is only known to science from one locality — namely Berehaven. 

 Triticella korenii, Sars, has been found by him abundantly, and more 

 rarely T. pedicellata, Alder. Both these latter species have only previously 

 been recorded from one British locality each. 



Prof. Johnson's exhibit at the November meeting {Irish Nat. vol. ii, p. 

 26) should have been described as follows: — JVildmania miniata, f. amplis- 

 sima Fosl. (Diploderma amp)lissimum, Kjell). This sea- weed differs from Por- 

 phyra in being two-layered, as Ulva does from Monostroma. 



