20 



Mr. Sewell exliibited aucT described a 

 fine specimen of the Venus's Flower-Basket 

 {EvphctcUii speclosii) of the Philippines, a 

 siliceous sponge attached bj- its expanded 

 base to some marine body, and supported by 

 a skeleton of tubular form, composed of 

 numerous bundles of fibres crossed by similar 

 ones, so forming a square net-work of exqui- 

 site beauty, the summit crowned by a net- 

 work lid. Sometimes small crabs arc found 

 imprisoned in the glass-lilce cage. 



Mr E. Glaisyer exliibited the fruit of 

 Trapa bicornis, water nut. This plant 

 gi-ows vciy abiindantly on the canals and 

 shallow lalces of China, clothing the whole 

 surface in the morning with a dense carpet of 

 green. As the sun rises, the colour is 

 gradually, from the opening of the flowers, 

 changed to a fine expanse of white. After a 

 few months, the singularly- shaped nuts, 

 resembling the head of a bull, — whence its 

 name, — become ripe, and when roasted, form 

 a supply of sustenance to myriads of the 

 inhabitants of that densely-populated country. 

 As the seeds are shed, and the plant grows 

 on the water, no trouble is required in its 

 cultivation. 



June. A paper on Animal Coverings, Feathers, Ac, 

 by My. Wonfor, in which the structure of 

 feathers, then- mode of growth, their several 

 parts, their resemblance to the hair oi mam- 

 mals, their variety of form and natiu'e, 

 according to the birds to which they belonged, 

 together with the nattu-e of down, were each 

 and all described and illustrated under the 



