LISJfEAN SOCIETr OF LOXDOX. II 



April 20th, 1899. 

 Dr. Albert C. L. G-. Gcxthee, F.E.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 



Mr. Lester Yallis Lester was admitted a Fellow of the Society. 



Mr, George Murray, F.R.S,, F.L.S., exhibited several slides of 

 new Peridiniacece, and gave some account of the method of col- 

 lection by pumping which had been found most efficacious witb 

 these organisms. A discussion followed, in which Sir John 

 Murray, Mr. C. B. Clarke, and Mr. H. Groves took part. 



Mr. J. B. Carruthers, F.L.S., communicated some observations 

 on the localized, nature of the parent characters in hybrid fruits 

 of Theobroma Cacao, on which some criticism was offered by the 

 llev. G. Henslow. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. " On the Botany of the Ceylon Patanas." By Henry 

 Harold Welch Pearson, B.A. (Communicated by Prof. H. Mar- 

 shall Ward, F.E.S., F.L.S.) 



2. " A new List of British and Irish Spiders." By the Eev. 

 O. Pickard Cambridge, M.A., F.E S. (Communicated by Prof. 

 Howes, Sec. L. Soc.) 



3. " Imitation as a source of Anomalies." By Prof. E. J. 

 Anderson. M.A., F.L.S. 



The following is an abstract of Prof Anderson's paper: — 

 Commenting upon the e-tatement made by Professors Krau?e 

 and Testut that muscular anomalies are rare in the lower animals, 

 whilst in man they are very common, the author considered it 

 remarkable that no single instance had been authenticated in 

 recent times of a mammal fairly attempting to utter a human 

 voice-^ound, although this did not apply to birds. He suggested 

 that in the attempt to imitate, the mental act, or volition, if 

 sustained, might favour a change of a moderate nature, and that 

 such a change might be either progressive or retrogressive. He 

 Plight put it thus : — (A) An animal brings its nervous actions 

 into harmony with its surroundings, i. e. sets itself to do what 

 some other creature is doing. (B) The offspring may inherit 

 this disjDosition. (C) The offspring may strike off a muscle-slip 

 to do certain work more efficiently. In the power to imitate, or 

 extemporize, he thought we might have a source of certain 

 anomalies that are often regarded as a proof or sign of reversion. 



May 4th, 1899. 

 Mr. Albeet D. Michael, F.Z.S., Yice-Presideut, in the Chair. 

 The Miijutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 

 Mr. Gtorge Sharp Saunders was elected a Fellow of the Society; 



