EAST KENT NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 29 



East Kent Natural History Society. 



President, the Rev. John Mitchinson, D.C.L., &c., Oxon. ; 

 Honorary' Secretary, George Gulliver, F.R.S., &c. 



J^dy 4ith, 1872. — Food of Ndidina. — Colonel Horsley exhibited 

 some small and lively species of nuid worms, from a freshwater pool 

 in the neighbourhood. They were seen under the microscope feeding 

 greedily on Volvox glohator, and numbers of this minute plant then 

 appeared inside and distinctly through the transparent bodies of the 

 animals. 



New Fossil Fish. — Mr. James Reid laid on the table and gave a 

 short and very interesting account of a fossil fish which he had 

 obtained two or three years ago from the Gault, near Folkstone. 

 Dr. Gunther, having examined the specimen, stated that it is quite 

 new, and belongs to the Clupeoidei, and he has named it Thrissopater 

 Salmoneus ; a very valuable addition to our fossil fauna. 



Ammocoetes branchialis. — Mr. George Gulliver (of Pembroke 

 College, Oxford) showed under the microscope sections of this 

 larval fish, made b}' hardening in chromic acid and staining with 

 carmine. Though the eyes do not appear externally, perfect eyes 

 and their chambers and crystalline lens were seen in the sections ; 

 the auditory sac and its coarsely ciliated epithelium were shown, 

 as were also the ovaries, well developed in this immature fish, with 

 numerous ova presenting the germinal vesicle and spot ; and the 

 infolding of the inner coats of the gut, like an intestine within an 

 intestine, was well displayed. All these points are easily seen 

 under the microscope by this method of preparation. 



Fggs of Argas rejlexus and Ixodes Dugesii. — Some females of 

 these Acarina having been confined in boxes kept in Mr. Gulliver's 

 library, and at Mr. Fullagar's, during May and June, continued lively 

 without food up to the beginning of July, about which time they 

 were found to have laid many eggs. Of Argas these were spherical, 

 generally about -jljth of an inch in diameter, of a dull grayish 

 colour, and slightly rough on the surface ; a few of them were of a 

 suboval shape. Thus, these eggs differ from those of Ixodes Dugesii 

 in size and shape, for of this last species the eggs are regularly 

 oval, about 4Vth of an inch long and ^^gth broad, very smooth and of 

 a shining chocolate colour ; in both species the egg-shells are com- 

 posed of chitine. 



July 18th, 1872. — Excursion. — This took place in the neighbour- 

 hood, and the party was hospitably entertained by the Vice-Pre- 

 sident of the Society, Colonel Horsley, at his residence, St. Stephen's 

 Lodge, near Canterbury. 



Raj)hides of Onagracece. — The botanical specimens brought in 

 from the excursion, with several other contributions by Mrs. Dean, 

 were the following: — Epilobium parviflorum, Torilis anthriscus, 

 Lathyrus pratensis, Scrophularia aquatica. Ranunculus scleratus, 

 Eryngium maritimura, Hyoscyamus niger, Salsola kali, Trifolium 



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