301 



Mr. Ingpen could only say how very much he welcomed 

 communications such as the one they had just heard, which 

 seemed to keep them in touch with all parts of the world with 

 which they were glad to keep up communication, and he had 

 never failed to impress upon members going abroad the 

 desirability of sending home something for the interest and 

 benefit of the Club. The value of methods of preparing and 

 mounting as that introduced by Mr. Rousselet could hardly be 

 overstated, because if they could get a gentleman who had 

 several months to spare in China to preserve Rotifers in that 

 way, specimens could be brought home in a condition which 

 put them beyond all doubt or question, whereas drawings and 

 observations were sometimes apt to be questioned. 



Mr. Neville thought the Society was very much indebted to 

 Mr. Grunson Thorpe for his very interesting description, and 

 felt that many of the members must have envied him his 

 opportunities. He had been able to work in a scientific spirit, 

 and to give them some results of which they might feel proud 

 as having a member able to carry on these observations under 

 such circumstances, and from whom they might expect still 

 greater things in years to come. 



Mr. Karop said he should like to inquire of Surgeon Gunson 

 Thorpe on one point, although personally he knew verv little 

 indeed about Rotifers. He did know, however, that Chinamen 

 were about the most dirty creatures on the face of the earth, 

 but at the same time they were the most splendid gardeners, 

 and as it was their habit to save up every particle of excrement 

 in order to distribute it over their gardens, he thought that 

 these canals which Mr. Thorpe had spoken of must to a large 

 extent be contaminated with sewage matter. He believed that 

 it was found here that as soon as water became so contaminated 

 very many of these forms disappeared. If this was so he 

 thought it was curious that Rotifers should be found in such 

 abundance in these waters. 



Mr. Hardy thought that the facts were rather the other war, 

 and that a dead dog" in the water was generally a sign that 

 there would be plenty of Rotifers. 



Mr. Chapman used to know a pond on Clapham Common 

 where there were some most beautiful Rotifers to be found and 

 Stephanoceros were abundant. This pond not only had sewage 

 flowing into it, but there were generally a number of dead cats 



