22 EAST KENT NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



their manner of feeding, and of how easily they may be collected 

 and kept to afford very interesting subjects for microscopical 

 inquiry. 



April ISfh, 1872. — Archegonia and Antheridia. — Of these, Mr. 

 Down gave some demonstrations in Polytriclmm and other mosses, 

 showing how easily and instructively the sexual fructification of 

 these plants may be examined even by low microscopic powers, 

 as the examinations were all made extemporaneously, with the 

 assistance of the several microscopes at the meeting, on fresb 

 specimens collected during the afternoon by Col. Horsley and 

 other members. 



May 2nd, 1872. — Objects simulating human ivorhmansJiip found 

 in the Suffolk Crag. — These were chiefly sharks' teeth, men- 

 tioned as belonging to the genera Otodus and Carcharadon, and 

 having formed part of a series of such objects in the possession of 

 Edward Charlesworth, Esq., F.Gr.S. Between the fang and crown 

 of each tooth was a hole, like in form and position to that made 

 in such teeth at the present day by the South Sea Islanders, in 

 order to the fabrication of necklaces. The objects were all de- 

 scribed as from the Suffolk Crag, and, as they were sent to the 

 meeting by the Rev. W. Bird, without sufficient description or 

 time to prepare any connected account of them, Dr. Mitchinson 

 gave an extemporaneous address on the points at issue. These 

 were the means by which the perforations were made, and their 

 significance however or whenever made ; if by man, contem- 

 poraneously with the formation, of the Suffolk Crag, it would carry 

 his antiquity back most wonderfully. But, admitting the holes 

 to have been the result of human agency, it would then have to 

 be determined when and how the teeth had got into that Crag ; 

 and, on the other hand, considering the siliceous teeth of certain 

 moUusks, and the well-known perforations made through very 

 refractory substances by other invertebrates, the precise signifi- 

 cance of these perforated sharks' teeth would require more exact 

 inquiry than could be afforded by the meeting. 



A Plague of Ticks. — Colonel Cox brought this important ques- 

 tion in an initiatory manner before the meeting, as he intended 

 to revert to the subject soon. He and Mr. Dowker described 

 these ticks as arachnids, occurring on sheep and lambs in dense 

 patches as big as a saucer, more scantily on young pheasants, and 

 occasionally on ferrets, but seldom on dogs. The effects on the 

 flocks and on the pheasants were so extensive and dreadful as to 

 strike aghast the bucolic and sporting minds. There were two 

 very difl'erent sorts of this tick — one bloated, of a leaden colour, 

 with red legs and occipital plate, and about as big as a small 

 horsebean ; the other altogether red, not at all bloated, and 

 scarcely a tenth of the size of the big specimens. Both sizes are 

 found on the sheep and lambs, but the biggest most numerously. 

 The little flat red ticks occur besides very plentifully in pastures, 

 as well as on or under the bark of trees and bushes. Dr. Kersey 

 confirmed these statements from his own observations ; and Mr. 



