[ 278 ] 

 PROCEEDINGS OF IRISH SOCIETIES. 



RoYAi,. Z001.0GICA1, Society. 



Recent donations comprise a pair of pigeons from Master F. Kelly, an 

 Ocelot from Dr. Griffin, a pair of Wood Pigeons from Sir A. Weldon, 

 three Japanese Deer and and a Sparrow Hawk from Sir Douglas Brooke, 

 a Common Fox from Dr. Stoney, and a Spotted Paradoxure from Dr. R. 

 M. Connolly. A Chimpanzee and two Jerboas have been acquired by 

 purchase. 



Dubinin Microscopicai. Ci,ub. 



June 15th. — The club met at Mr. F. W. Moore's, who showed Stemonitis 

 fitsca, Roth. The specimen was found growing on front of the leaf of a 

 species of Scheelea in the large Palm-house at Glasnevin. It covered a 

 space about six inches long by one inch broad, forming a very striking 

 object. This fungus is generally found on dead and decaying material, 

 and it was interesting to now find it growing on part of the leaf of a 

 healthy palm. 



Mr. Greenwood Pim showed Ustilago receptaadonwi from head of 

 Goatsbeard ( Tragopogon pratensis) growing at Skerries. This is its first 

 Irish record. The Goatsbeard, though widely distributed is not a common 

 plant, and its smut is decidedly rare. The spores are comparatively large 

 and spinulose. Dr. McWeeney showed these germinated. 



Dr. M'Weeney showed a curious example of conjoined parasitism 

 of two minute fungi — Urocystis anemones, Sev., and Peronospora pygvicea, Ung. 

 — upon the same portion of a leaf of Anemone nemorosa. The epidermis, 

 which was slightly swollen and looked bluish from the subjacent spore 

 mass of the Urocystis, was covered with a thin bloom, composed of the 

 conidiophorous hyphse of the Peronospoy-a. Sections through the affected 

 part showed an abundance of /'^r6'W(?i;/'C';-a-oospores lying amongst the par- 

 enchyma cells in close contiguity to the differentiating spore-bags of the 

 Urocystis. The mycelium of the two micro-fungi belonging, as they do, 

 to classes widely remote the one from the other, could be seen running 

 side by side between the parenchyma cells ; and that of Peronospora could 

 be readily distinguished by the paucity or absence of septa, and by its 

 numerous button-shaped haustoria from that of the neighbouring Urocys- 

 tis. On the edge of the sections the gonidial hyphse of the Peronospora, 

 with the simplicity of branching characteristic of the species, could be 

 readily seen, emerging from the stomata, and their continuity with the 

 oospore-bearing hyphse easily traced. The exhibitor drew special atten- 

 tion to the latter as being objects of rare occurrence in plants gathered 

 so early in the season. The specimen was gathered on the bank of the 

 Aughrim river, on April 5th last. 



Mr. G. H. Carpenter showed male specimen of PlcesiocrcBrtis alpimis, 

 Cb., a spider collected in the Edinburgh district by Mr. W. Evans, and 

 an addition to the British fauna, having been hitherto recorded only from 

 the Alps of Styria and southern France. 



Mr. McArdIvE exhibited a specimen of the rare HarPa-lejeunea ovata, 

 Taylor, which he collected recently in Dunboy wood, Castletownbere, 

 Co, Cork. It has not been previousl}' reported from this locality that we 

 are aware of. The plant is easily known when not in fruit, b}' the large 

 lobe of the leaf being acutely ovate, and the smaller, or lobule, being 

 saccate and inflated, and by the obcordate underleaves, which are bluntly 

 notched at the apex. This rare species is the only British representative 

 of Dr. Spruce's sub-genus Harpa-lejetmca, it is also interesting on account 

 of its geographical distribution, which extends to the Amazon valley and 

 the lower slopes of the Andes in South America. 



