Proceedings. secian 
Ordinary Meeting, May 21st, 1879. 
Joun Fiower, M.A., F.Z.S., President, in the Chair. 
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. 
Letters were read from Mr. John Evans, F.R.S., Professor 
Flower, Professor Prestwich, and Professor Rolleston, thanking 
the Club for their election as honorary members. 
Mr. William Russell, the Rev. John Kingscote Hawker, Mr. 
Frank Mead, Mr. H. S. Cowdell, Mr. G. H. Hall, and Mr. 
William Rowland were balloted for and elected. 
The PRESIDENT announced that the Royal Microscopical 
Society had lately passed a bye-law by which the council had 
power to elect the Presidents of kindred societies Honorary 
Fellows of the Royal Microscopical Society. Some time back 
the secretary of that society wrote to the committee of this 
Club and asked if they would accept the honour on the part of 
their President. A reply was sent back to the effect that they 
would be pleased to do so, and since the last meeting they had 
received an intimation that the President of the Croydon 
Microscopical Club for the time being was now entitled to the 
privileges of an ex-officio member of the Royal Microscopical 
Society. This was a high compliment to the Club, and one 
for which they should return their best thanks. 
Specimens of the Pill Beetle (Byrrhus pilula), one of which 
was alive, were exhibited by the President and Mr. A. D. 
Taylor, and the peculiar mode in which these beetles, when 
alarmed, draw their legs closely together upon the abdomen, so 
as to render them almost invisible, and the singular modifica- 
tions of structure which enable them to do this, were described 
by the President. This beetle is not uncommon in the 
immediate neighbourhood of Croydon. 
A paper was read by Mr. W. INGRams on ‘“ Diatomacez,” 
(See p. 45). 
In the discussion which ensued, Mr. H. Turner asked 
whether Mr. Ingrams had examined any mud from the bottom 
of the ponds in the neighbourhood of Croydon. He asked the 
question because it was well known that deposits of thick mud 
accumulated in certain rivers in the northern part of Germany, 
obstructing the harbours and causing them to be dredged 
rather frequently. It was also known that in this mud there 
were considerable deposits formed, almost entirely of diatoms, 
Mr. Kuaassen asked if Mr. Ingrams knew who was the 
discoverer of diatoms. He believed the discovery had been 
credited to Ehrenberg. He also discussed the question whether 
diatoms were animals or plants. Some writers asserted that 
they were infusoria, and not vegetable organisms at all. But 
