veo E Proceedings. 
it seemed now to be generally admitted that they were plants. 
He also mentioned that in some parts they were eaten, with 
the mud which contained them, and considered to be a great 
delicacy. 
Dr. CARPENTER remarked that but few people had any idea 
how great a part these minute creatures had played in the 
world’s history. It had been shown that silica was taken out 
of the water by these organisms, and it was probable that a 
large portion of the flint found on our chalk hills was extracted 
from the sea water by their agency, and that the mass of flints 
was thus indirectly the production of these organisms. It had 
been supposed by,many that the formation of flint had long 
ceased on the earth, but it was evident that deposits of flints 
were now being made in different parts of the earth. 
Mr. WaAttis asked whether the flints contained in the box 
which Mr. Ingrams had alluded to were the result of his own 
personal observations ? 
Mr. INGRAms said they were. 
Mr. INGRams, in reply, said he had no doubt that a large 
quantity of diatoms would be found in any small portion of the 
mud at the bottom of Waddon Mill Pond, and there was no 
doubt that these diatoms had accumulated and caused the 
obstruction he had mentioned at the bridge. Mr. Klaassen had 
said something about infusoria. ‘There was, as he had said, a 
divided opinion as to these diatoms—some agreed that they 
were animal and others that they were vegetable. The micro- 
scope of to-day was a far superior instrument to that of bye- 
gone times, and modern researches tended to show that these 
diatoms were not infusoria, but vegetable. 
Mr. E. STrakeER exhibited a piece of palm willow, about 5-ft. 
long, around which a honeysuckle had entwined. itself so 
tightly as to cut deeply into the bark. The foliage of the 
lower part of the tree had been entirely destroyed, but at the 
top there were signs of life when the bough was discovered. 
Mr. G. CorDEN submitted to the meeting a table of winter 
temperatures for twelve years, in comparison with that of 
1878-79, similar in plan to one published by Mr. G. J. Symons 
in the April number of the ‘‘ Monthly Meteorological Magazine.” 
(See p. 53). Mr. Corden pointed out that it appeared from this 
table that the mean temperature of those four months of the 
past winter was 36°.5 or 4°.6 below the average of the same 
months for the twelve previous years, and lower by nearly two 
degrees than the lowest mean of any of them. The mean of 
the maximum or highest day temperature for the same period 
was 40'2 degrees or 5°7 degrees below the average, and the 
mean of the minimum or lowest night temperatures was 32°8 
