114 



containing seven slides, which he thought were of some excep- 

 tional interest and had asked that they might be examined and 

 reported upon. Three of these were sections of the flesh of a 

 fowl, which was said to have turned black, and to exhibit 

 traces of disease, as if from the attacks of some nematode 

 worm. The only thing he could make out of this was that 

 the flesh was in a patrid condition, the .pressure used in 

 mounting had separated the muscular fibres, and these spaces 

 seemed to have been mistaken for the tracks of worms. Two 

 slides of liver of a bat were also supposed by Colonel O'Hara 

 to exhibit some diseased condition, but, to his mind, they 

 appeared to be perfectly healthy, and to present no uncommon 

 appearance. One of pine wood was not specially remarkable, 

 neither was that of " Hairy Tumour from Horse." Colonel 

 O'Hara said, in his letter, that he wished to have those of the 

 fowl retui-ned, the others he placed at the disposal of the Club. 



They had also received a letter from Mr. Ash, accompanied 

 by a sample of soil from Guatemala, which was said to be very 

 rich in diatoms. An examination of this showed it to be of a 

 nature precisely resembling what was known as " Diatomite " 

 from the dried beds of the old Scotch Lochs. It contained 

 abundance of well-known freshwater forms. The quantity sent 

 by Mr. Ash was for distribution amongst the Members, and if 

 more was required it could be had in any quantity. 



Mr. Scourfield read a paper oii " Some New British 

 Cladocera," illustrating the subject by drawings upon the 

 blackboard. 



The President said they were greatly obliged to Mr. Scour- 

 field for this very interesting and useful communication. It 

 was certainly a curious feature in the history of the Club that 

 the Entomostraca seemed to have been entirely passed over, 

 perhaps — as was the case in other directions — because they 

 were so plentiful, they had been regarded as of little value as 

 objects of stud3^ And yet it would seem that though there had 

 been men who had brought the energies of a lifetime to bear 

 upon these organisms, there were details which had been over- 

 looked, and which therefore offered a promising field to those 

 who were disposed to investigate it. This was a matter of im- 

 portance at a time when it seemed certain that species as at 

 present constituted nuist largely go. 



