8 



blastema. These weie very i>lainly seen in a number of sections exhibited 

 under the microscope by various members of the society at the subsequent 

 conversazione, inclmling the eggs of the common fowl, guinea fowl, emeu, 

 ostrich, goose, turkey, guillemot, and swan. It was showTi that a well- 

 defined type of shell structure belongs to certain families of birds, and is 

 easily recognised under the microscope ; as witnessed in the colourless and 

 transparent shell of the woodpecker's egg and the highly coloured shell of 

 the emeu's. It is a well-known fact that the size of eggs is dependent uj)on 

 the time spent in the nest by the birds after being hatched, thus, although 

 the guillemot and the raven are birds of equal size, their respective eggs 

 vary in size as ten to one. Mr. Higgins warmly commended the further 

 study of the subject to the attention of the members, there being iu it 

 much room for original research of a most interesting kind. 



Mr. T. J. Moore and others made some further remarks on the subject. 



At the Conversazione the following subjects were illustrated : — 



'Crystals of Carbonate of Lime in Egg of Fowl J. M. Williams. 



Section of Egg Shell of Common Fowl Wm. Oelrichs. 



Guinea Fowl Alfred Leicester. 



Emeu Isaac C. Thompson. 



Ostrich Thomas C. Ryley. 



Goose Henry M. Bexkett. 



Turkey Charles Botterill. 



Guillemot A. T. Smith, Jun. 



'-' I Do. do. Swan John Yicaks. 



Carapace of Crab, horizontal section Robert Nicholson. 



Crystals in abdomen of Formica rufa Henry Kendall, B.A. 



Diatoms, new forms, from Oamani T. W. Bruce. 



Eggs of House Fly T. Muskett. 



Moist Chambers for culture of Micro-organisms A. Norman Tate. 



Section of Fitchstone, from Saxony The President. 



Shell of Shrimp, polarized T. Oliver. 



March 4th. — Mr. John May all, Jun., F.Z.S., Vice-President of the Royal 

 Microscopical Society, read a paper on "Recent Improvements of the 

 Microscope : A Visit to Jena." 



Mr. J. Mayall said that upon the last occasion he had the honour to 

 address the society — six years ago — he had to bring to their special notice 

 certain improvements in the microscope — the introduction of the homo- 

 geneous-immersion system — the practical development of which had had 

 the good fortune to attract the attention of Dr. E. Abbe, of Jena University. 



