326 



to the objective, how much to the eye-piece, and how much to 

 the tube length. 



The President thought they had just had a very valuable com- 

 munication, for which their best thanks were due to Mr. Ashe. 

 He did not wish to monopolize too much of the time of the 

 meeting, but he should like to take the opportunity of answer- 

 ing a question which was constantly being asked as to what was 

 meant by tube length — between what points was the measure- 

 ment taken. Mr. Nelson then gave some illustrations, writing 

 the formulae upon the black-board. 



The thanks of the Club were unanimously voted to the 

 President. 



Mr. Buff ham read a paper "On Recent Work on Marine 

 Algae," illustrating the subject by diagrams drawn on the board. 



Mr. J. G-. Waller said this subject was one which had greatly 

 interested him. The first paper he read at the Club was on the 

 " Conjugation of Actinophrys sol,'' and the last was on " The 

 Perforation of Shells and Stones by some Vegetable Or- 

 ganisms." In the course of his investigations on the subject he 

 had met with a number of singular appearances, which on con- 

 sideration he had referred to the action of fungi, and in this 

 idea he was confirmed by Mr. Carter and others. There seemed 

 to be an analogy between this action and what was known as 

 the fungus foot of India. Mr. Buff ham's specimens were found 

 amongst the Algse, but his own all came from the sands of the 

 German Ocean. He was sure the paper would be a very useful 

 addition to the Journal. 



The thanks of the meeting were voted to Mr. Buff ham. 



Announcements of meetings for the ensuing month were then 

 made, and the proceedings terminated with the usual conversa- 

 zione, at which the following objects were exhibited : — 

 Marine Algse with reproductive ^ 



organs : — Chorda fihim (plurilo- | 



cular sporangia) ; Giffordiapadnice 



(antheridia and plurilocular 



sporangia) ; Gomontia polyrhiza \^ -^^ rjy -^ Buffham. 



(an alga which perforates shells), 



sporangia; Gonimophyllum Buff- 



hami (a parasite on Nitophyllum 



laceratum), antheridia, crysto- 



carps, tetraspores ... ... j 



