Proceedings. Ixx 



part in the proceedings of the Club. The attendance at our 

 ordinary meetings has varied, but on the whole has been mode- 

 rately good ; better, I think, than iu the previous year. At the 

 meetiugs on May 17th, Oct. 16th, and Dec. 8th lady visitors were 

 present on the invitation of the Club. 



At the meeting of Feb. 20th the Report of the Meteorological 

 Sub-Committee for 1893 was read on behalf of the Hon. Secre- 

 tary, Mr. F. C. Bayard. This Report was published in our volume 

 of ' Transactions' for that year (Trans., Art. 115, p. 90). The 

 main feature of the year 1893 was the deficiency of rainfall 

 which marked nearly every month, especially in the earlier part 

 of the year, and which amounted at Greenwich to 4J in. below 

 the average of the preceding fifty years. The temperature of 

 nearly every month, with the exception of January and November, 

 had been above the average, and so had also in most months 

 been the duration of sunlight. The President remarked that the 

 temperature of the gromid at a depth of 4 ft. was 3° F. higher 

 in January and February, 1894, than in the corresponding season 

 of 1893. This was no doubt due to the excess of heat received 

 during the previous year, and it accounted for the early growth of 

 vegetation, which was so marked a feature of the spring of 1894. 

 Mr. Straker read a paper entitled " Some Notes on the Outer 

 Shetlands," in which he described the scenery, geology, botany, 

 and animal hfe of these the northernmost of the British Islands, 

 referring especially to Unst, Foula, and Fair Isle. He showed 

 how in the native art of the latter island the influence of the 

 survivors of the Spanish Armada, who were shipwrecked there in 

 1587, could be traced. The paper was illustrated by botanical 

 specimens, stiified birds, and other objects of interest ; and, in 

 further illustration, a specimen of the now almost extinct great 

 skua was exhibited by Mr. Weir Brown ; and copper cruzies and 

 specimens of stormy petrels used as lamps in Shetland were 

 shown by Mr. Lovett. 



On March 20th Mr. Aldous showed some recent improvements 

 in the microscope for high-power work, especially a centering 

 substage, and a graduated draw-tube. 



A paper was read by Dr. Hobson on " Some Points in the 

 Life-history of Bacteria," in which he treated of the botanical 

 position, morphological characters, movements, methods of re- 

 production by fission and by spore-formation, and habitats of 

 these lowly plants, of the chemical processes involved in their 

 growth, and of the method of their identification by cultivation. 

 The paper was profusely illustrated by lantern-slides, kindly lent 

 by Dr. E. Klein, F.R.S. It will be published in our ' Trans- 

 actions' (Trans., Art. 116). 



The meeting on April 17th was devoted to the exhibition of 

 specimens and remarks thereon. Your President exhibited, as 



