4 PROCEEDINGS OP THE 



last by himself. In 1895 livino; specimens of this seaweed, a 

 native of Japan, were found at Falmouth by the late Mr. T. H. 

 Buffham, and during the present year other examples had been 

 found at Shanklin, Isle of Wight, showing that the plant had 

 apparently become naturalized. 



The following paper was read : — 



" Does Natural Selection play any part in the Origin of Species 

 among Plants ? " By the Eev. George Henslow, M.A., F.L.S. 



December I7tb, 1896. 



Dr. A. GtTNTHER, F.E.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 



Mr. F. Boper was admitted, and Sir William Boberts and 

 Mr. John Henry Burrage were elected Fellows of the Society. 



The President directed attention to the very handsome Clock 

 recently presented to the Society by Mr. Frank Crisp, and now 

 fixed over the doorway of the Meeting Boom, and a cordial vote 

 of thanks to INIr. Crisp was unanimously recorded. 



Messrs. James Green and J. H. Gardiner exhibited a series 

 of sciagraphs of British Batrachians and Eeptiles in which the 

 details of the skeleton were very sharply defined, and its relation 

 to the external outline well shown. These sciagraphs, as well as 

 those of a series of Mollusca also exhibited, were taken with a 

 Crookes's tube of the ordinary focus pattern actuated by a 

 powerful induction-coil giving 8-in. sparks, and the prints in 

 every case were made from untouched negatives. 



Prof. Howes offered some remarks on the series of Batrachians 

 and Beptiles ; and Mr. B. B. Woodward commented upon the 

 details of structure which were made apparent iu the sciagraphs 

 of Mollusca. 



Mr. J. E. Harting exhibited a supposed hybrid between the 

 Common Brown Hare {Lepus timidus) and the Irish Hare {Lepus 

 variahilis) recently obtained in Carnarvonshire, where the latter 

 species had been introduced in 1878. He compared the speci- 

 men in question with examples of both the above-named species, 

 and contrasted their distinguishing peculiarities, pointing out 

 the intermediate characters exhibited by the supposed hybrid. 

 His remarks were criticised by the President, who thought that 

 too much stress should not be laid upon external ajDpearance 

 and colour ; that the question of hybridity should rather be 

 determined by comparing the relative measurements of the leg- 

 bones ; and that the Irish Hare should be compared in detail 

 with the Hare of Southern Europe (L. meridional is or mediter- 

 raneus). Prof. Howes drew attention to Nathusius's observations 



