ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. 



1883. 



NovEMiiER 15. — Eleventh Annual General Meeting. President F. 

 Ilarrisson, Esq., in the chair. Report of Council and Balance .Sheet were 

 read and adopted, and after a hearty vote of thanks to retiring Officers, the 

 election of those for ensuing year was proceeded with. Special vote of thanks 

 was given to the late Honorary Secretary, Mr. Hart, for his uniform desire to 

 advance the interests of the Society and his valuable services during the past 

 three years. Mr. Ilarrisson, the I'resident, then delivered his presidential 

 address. 



DECE.viiiiiK. 6. — 45th Gossip which was well attended. 



Decemher 20. — 1 20th Ordinary meeting. Mr. W. T. Suffolk, F.R.M.S., 

 delivereda lecture on " Sea Anemones." After paying a high compliment to 

 P. H. Gosse, Esq., F.R.S., he went on to describe their place in Nature 

 saying they belonged to sub-kingdom called Coelenterata, or hollow intestined 

 animal, of which the Hydra found in most ponds was a type, the sub-king- 

 dom was again divided into Hydrozoa and Actinozoa ,to the latter " Sea 

 Aneniones" belong- He then went on to fully describe, by illustration on black- 

 board and diagrams, the structure, which consists of a stomach divided into 

 sections throwing out tentacles which emitted a threadlike substance used by 

 them in preying upon smaller organisms. Some Sea Anemones have the 

 power of forming a stony secretion which is well known to us as coral. Corals 

 from two British species we. e e.xhibited and much admired. Mr. Suffolk then 

 gave some very useful advice as to keeping Anemones in aquaria, and also 

 gave the best places where they could be found. 



1884. 



January 3. — 46th Gossip, this proved of much interest. 



January 7. — Soiree of Lambeth Field Club, at which several members 

 exhibited. 



January 17. — Mr. A. Dean, Honorary Secretary East London Natural 

 History and Scientific Society, exhibited and explained his new method of 

 " Microscopical Illustration on a Screen." He commenced by saying his 

 remarks would be more practical than actually scientific. He then proceeded 

 to show how by an arrangement of two objectives one above and the other 

 below the stage, a much larger field could be obtained. Some moss was exhib- 

 ited by this method and was much admired. Mr. Dean then went on to fully 

 describe the manufacture of the instrument for throwing Microscopic objects 

 on a screen, creating some amusement by the very clever way in which 

 he used the commonest things and turned them to scientific uses. The 

 instrument was then tested and a very clearly defined' object was shown on 

 the Screen. Mr. Dean then showed how this could be utilized for drawing 

 purpjses, and asked some gentle.nan t ) give him a slide to draw from. A 

 slide of an ant was given and a sketch was made of it, thus showing by experi- 

 ment the use of this instrument. Some photographs taken by Mr. Dean were 

 then exhibited, 



February 7. — 47th Gossip, which was fairly well attended. 



