279 



wards turned out to be only a parasite of one of the common domestic 

 animals which had transferred itself, and thus got this splendid name given 

 to it. 



Mr. E. T. Newton said that regarding this subject as a matter of nomen- 

 clature generally, every one must be struck with the diflBculty which 

 Burrounded it. It was no doubt an evil to have species unnecessarily mul- 

 tiplied, but yet when any one began to work upon a class of creatures, like 

 the Acarina, for instance, no doubt it was found a matter of convenience 

 to know what animal it was found upon. What they had to do now was to 

 cut down the numbers, so that the same form was not described under 

 several different names. The difficulty was one which reigned throughout 

 the Animal Kingdom ; but whilst they sought to remedy it, they should 

 remember that in the beginnings of research it was a plan which had its 

 advantages at the time, and he thought they should also remember that in 

 other quarters there was an equally inconvenient tendency the other way. 

 The matter was certainly one worthy the attention of a Society such as theirs. 

 Mr. Michael said his observations on Pecohia were so limited that he was 

 not in a position to say what were its limitations. 



The Rev. H. J. Fase exhibited and described a growing slide and live box 

 which he had used for about a year and a-half , so that it had been well 

 tried. In construction it was very simple, and resembled a live box in its 

 action ; the cell was a ring of bone, cemented upon a glass plate, and the 

 slide was made of cork ; at the bottom of the cell there was an indiarubber 

 ring, and the piece of thin glass used as the cover was kept down upon the 

 ring by the pressure of the cork slide, the depth of the interior space being 

 regulated by the thickness of the indiarubber ring. The difficulty with 

 most of the forms in use was that if they were too thick the object inside 

 could not be focussed upon with anything but a low power; whilst if they 

 were very thin, they contained too little water. This one had certainly 

 acted very well, and he could recommend it for practical service. 



Mr. Curties enquired in what way provision was made for a fresh supply 

 of fluid ? 



Mr. Fase said there was a little groove in the cork ring, into which water 

 could be put with a pipette, but there was not much evaporation. 



The thanks of the meeting were voted to Mr. Fase for his communi- 

 cation. 



The President announced the meetings, &c., for the ensuing month, and 

 the business of the ordinary meeting terminated. 



The President having vacated the chair, Dr. Matthews addressed the 

 members of the Club in the following terms :— Gentlemen,— I pray your 

 attention and patience for a few minutes whilst I introduce to your notice 

 a subject which has not only occupied much of my thoughts as well as 

 those of many friends whom I see before me, but has enlisted all our sym- 

 pathies. By way of preface, I will begin by saying that there are amongst 

 the ethical canons by which I have ever tried to shape my conduct, two 

 which I shall quote for the present occasion — the first of good morals, the 

 second of good taste, though I must admit that I by no means consider 



