EAST KENT NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 23 



Gulliver displayed, by dissections under the microscope, the testes 

 and spermatozoa, and the ovaries and ova, so as to show that all 

 the large bloated ticks were pregnant females, while the males 

 were found exclusively among the small red specimens. The ravages 

 of this tick were described as most destructive at Bifrous, Broom 

 Park, and elsewhere about Canterbury, as well as in other parts 

 of Kent. 



Orchis fusca, Neottia Nidus avis, Sfc. — Mr. James Reid exhi- 

 bited fine blooming specimens of these plants, gathered on the 

 29th of April, and remarked that this was probably an earlier 

 notice of the full bloom of the former orchis than had yet been 

 recorded. He also produced truly wild examples of Poli/rjonatwn 

 officinale and Convcdlaria majalis, both collected in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Canterbury. 



Water-beetle and Nest. — A female of Hydrophihis piceus and 

 her nest, or rather silk-like cocoon of eggs, were shown in one of 

 Mr. PuUagar's vases ; and the manner in which this insect forms 

 the cocoon, for the protection of the eggs, was explained by him 

 with the aid of illustrative drawings. 



Raphides of Dictijogens. — Mr. Gulliver gave extemporaneous 

 demonstrations of these in fresh plants of Paris and Tamils, and 

 remarked that in the British flora all the plants of this section 

 are sharply defined by the raphidian character from the imme- 

 diately preceding and succeeding orders of the so-called natural 

 system ; but further observations are required on exotic Dictyo- 

 gens. He had found raphides abounding in Lapageria, Testudi- 

 naria, Sarza and Dioscorea, but replaced in Boxhurgia by crystal 

 prisms (' Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci.,' January, 1866, and July, 

 l!S(59). Different tubers are sold at Covent Garden as "yams ;" 

 these are beautifully distinguishable by the raphides in one kind, 

 which is a Dioscorea, from another kind which has no raphides, 

 and is a member of the order Convolvulacere. Now, the Tarns have 

 been shown to possess, in some important points of structure, a 

 resemblance to tlie Birthworts ; but if we compare the abundance 

 of raphides in Dioscorea and Tamils with the total absence of 

 these crj'stals in Aristoloclna, we shall immediately see a remark- 

 able difierence not yet noticed in the books of systematic botany. 



May llth, 1872. — Well-boring at Sttirri/. — Colonel Cox read a 

 paper showing that at a depth of from 15 to 19 feet they came 

 to the blue clay, which continued down to 40 feet ; and at from 

 46 to 50 feet a water spring was struck. 



The Plague of Ticks. — Colonel Cox, referring to the proceed- 

 ings on this subject on May 2, read an elaborate paper concern- 

 ing the Ticks, now so fearfully injurious to the flocks of sheep 

 and the young pheasants of the neighbourhood. By the Kev. 

 H. G. W. Aubrey and the Editors of ' Land and "Water," the 

 Tick was pronounced to be Ixodes Diigesii. The Colonel detailed 

 many interesting facts from his own observations, and these were 

 confirmed by the parallel inquiries of Dr. Kersey, Mr. Dowker, 

 and Mr. Gardner ; the latter gentleman's flock having sufi'ered 



