t «I ] 



PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCII-TII'S. 



ROVAI. ZOOLOGICAL S()CI1:TV. 



Recent donations comprise a Peregrine Falcon from Miss Dennis; a 

 Badij^er from K. Winter, Ksq. ; and a pair of Dormice from Dr. Kenny. 

 An opossum, a Rinsj^-tailed Coati, two vSpider-Monkeys, and four mar- 

 mosets have been purchased. 3,420 persons visited the (iardens in 

 Januar}'. 



DuBUN Microscopical Ch'h. 



January 19th.— The Chib met at Dr. Frazkr's. 



Epithelial carciiuniia, from the liuinaii subject, \<i\i^ exhi])ited by Dr. \'.. J. 

 M'WeeCNEV, showing the peculiar globular bodies which' have l)een 

 described by Sjiibring, Podwyswzki and Sawbschenko, Fofi, RufTer and 

 Walker, and Metschnikoff, as occurring imbedded in cancer cells, some- 

 times in the nucleus and sometimes in the protoplasm, and which are 

 looked on by these authors and others as parasitic Proto/oa allied to the 

 Gregarinida. Owing to assumed symbiosis between these intracellular 

 parasites and the epithelial cells, the latter are supposed to receive a 

 peculiar stimulus causing them to multiply to a degree prejudicial to the 

 interests of the organism at large, and thus form a tumour. The 

 sections had been cut in paraffin, arranged in series on the slide, and 

 stained with Biondi's reagent. Dr. M'Weeney also exhibited a series of 

 slides ilUistrative of the various kinds of intracellular infection that 

 exist among the low^er animals. The psorosperms of the liver and in- 

 testine of rabbits ; the sarcosporidia that inhabit the nmscular fibres of 

 pigs and sheep, and the myxosporidia that live in the swim-bladiler and 

 urinary bladder of fishes were clearl}- demonstrated in this series of 

 beautifull}^ stained sections, for which the exhibitor was indebted to his 

 esteemed correspondent. Dr. D. Pfeiffer, of Weimar, whose researches 

 have throw^n much light on the obscure field of comparative pathology. 

 These minute organisms have one feature in common— their plant-like 

 tendency to break up completely into spores, and this process of spore 

 formation has lately been described as occurring in the supposed parasite 

 of human cancer cells. He also exhibited a series of micro-photogra])hs 

 also lent by Dr. Pfeiffer, showing cancer parasites in man, and the 

 various kinds of parasitic Protozoa in insects, mollusca, and vertebrates, 

 at different stages of development. 



Dr. J. A. Scott also showed some of the coccidia-bodies recently 

 described as a possible cause for cancer. The sections were taken from 

 a case of Paget's disease and an epithelioma of the tongue. He also 

 exhibited two photographs, by Mr. Pringle of Dondon, of a cancer. In 

 all the specimens and photographs similar small spherical l^odies couhl 

 be seen in the cells of the new growth, but their exact import must still 

 remain an open question. 



AnchorcUa undnata, a parasitic Cop&pod {male) was exhibited by Mr. W. F. 

 DE V. Kane, who said this species was not uncommon on Codfish in 

 Dublin Bay. He showed that this sex, which continues as a free organism 

 all its life, retains the two pairs of maxillipeds, situated in juxtaposition 

 and provided wnth talons, and lives as a parasite on the teniale. 1 He- 

 latter, however, in its fixed adult stage has both pairs diversely modified 

 and altered in their relative positions, the inner pair being retained as 



button-shaped tenaculum, wdiich is immovably , • ,, 



the host. He further remarked that in the present species, and in those 

 of the genus Chondracantlms, the microscopically minute male seemed onl} 

 to be found on the genital ring of the female, whereas, in other Lcmcw 



