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The Secretary read to the meeting the second portion of a paper by Mr. Fur- 

 longue, " On the minute Anatomy of the Flea" (Pulex Irritans), illustrated by 

 diagrams. 



The Chairman proposed a very cordial vote of thanks to Mr. Furlonge for his 

 very interesting paper. To have all the details of such a subject laid before them, 

 so as to be read at any time, would be of great service. He hoped that other 

 members of the Club would be induced to follow Mr. Furlonge's example, and 

 carefully follow up some one subject in the same manner. There were many 

 other insects about which it would be very desirable to know more. The bug, for 

 example, would furnish a subject, and there were also many other fleas beside 

 the one which formed the subject of the paper which had been read, such as the 

 flea of the dog, cat, mole, fowl, and others, each of which had some peculiarities 

 to distinguish it. 



A vote of thanks to Mr. Furlonge was then put to the meeting and carried 

 unanimously. 



Mr. S. J. Mclntire said that, being unprepared for it, he was rather surprised 

 that his remarks had been quoted by Mr. Furlonge in his paper, and that he 

 should now be called upon to repeat them. Mr. Furlonge merely asked him 

 some time ago if he had ever witnessed the copula of fleas, and he replied that 

 he had. At the time he was studying these insects he happened to have caught 

 one — a female — and put it into a test tube. Soon afterwards he caught another, 

 and put it into the tube also ; it proved to be a male flea, and they at once began 

 copulating. The curious part of it was that the female got on the top of the 

 male, and the male organ was turned round quite over his back to reach the 

 female. With regard to other kinds of fleas, those of the mouse were very in- 

 teresting ; they were very pretty little things, and were apparently blind. The 

 largest flea in the world was that obtained from the Australian ant-eater. It 

 was as large as a small-sized pea. 



The Chairman said that the observation made by Mr. J. Mclntire accounted 

 for the enormous development of the penis in the male flea. 



The Secretary said that he happened the other day to get out the gizzard of 

 the flea, but he could not make out the corrugated bands referred to in Mr. 

 Furlonge's paper. He saw, however, a number of bristles, which appeared to him 

 to take the place of the teeth found in the gizzard of the cockroach and cricliet. 



Mr. Topping confirmed the observation of Mr. White, and said that if the 

 gizzard were opened and laid out the bristles would be readily seen j if the 

 gizzard of the dog-flea were examined it would be found Jifi'erent. 



Mr. Oxley said that he had also observed the bristles alluded to by Mr. White. 



Mr. Matthews introduced to the meeting a portable case and stand for a 

 microscope lamp. He thought that persons were generally disirous of diminish- 

 ing the weight of their accessory apparatus, as well as that of their instruments, 

 and endeavoured to dispense with as many pieces as possible. He had in this 

 instance attempted to meet this desire by dispensing with the ring, stand, and 

 upright supporting rod, and making the case itself into a support and stand. 

 This was accomplished by making grooves in the sides of the interior of the case, 

 into which a wood shelf supporting the lamp was made to slide. This simple 

 contrivance he had found to answer perfectly; the grooves were ^in. apart, and 

 the lamp was quite steady even when the top groove was used. When the shelf 

 and lamp were placed at the bottom of the case, the door could be shut, and the 

 case conveniently carried about by means of a brass bail handle. The lamp was 

 one of Mr. How's, with an earthen chimney, and the only inconvenience he had 

 found arose from the great heat radiated from the chimney. He had, there- 



