106 REPORT—185/7. 
Mr. R. Patrerson read the following note of the quantity of periwinkles (Litto- 
rina littorea) shipped at Belfast during the years 1853, 1854, 1855, and 1856. It had 
been kindly furnished to him by Edmund Getty, Esq., Secretary to the Harbour 
Commissioners of that port :— 
Bags. Tons. Bushels. 
eres ake iwuewie NCSA Be ok ge ea SU od cine Oy eee 
Direkt oot feet OR Oe te os ats SUE cinch can Sm Cee 
TED eon pole COON a AOD. ee oe a ae 
ROD oreo oe come Lo PERG 2 ERIS PB TS 
Such of these as are not got in the Bay of Belfast, are principally collected on the 
coasts of the County Down; but the “‘ banks” from which they have been derived 
are becoming exhausted, and no longer capable of supplying the demand. The 
quantity of periwinkles deficient is now imported from Stranraer to Belfast, and 
thence re-shipped for London. The local term in the north of Ireland for the peri- 
winkle is “‘ whelk.”” The * whelk”’ (Buccinum undatum) is known as the “ buckie.”’ 
On a Method of applying the Compound Microscope to the sides or top of 
Aquaria less than two feet in height. By Professor Reprern, M.D. 
The arrangement consists of a vertical stem, supported by a heavy foot. On the 
stem a short transverse tube slides vertically and rotates on the axis of the stem, as 
well as on an axis at right angles to the direction of the stem. This transverse tube 
carries a long sliding arm, made use of as a lever, with arms of very unequal length. 
The short arm of the lever terminates in the cup of a ball-and-socket joint. A short 
stem attaches a tube to the ball, and this tube allows that which carries the objective 
and ocular to slide through it in coarse adjustment ; whilst a fine adjustment is made 
by acting on the long arm of the lever. The body of the microscope may thus be 
placed either vertically or horizortally, and placed either over an aquarium or applied 
to its side with equal ease in the use of the 2-inch, 1-inch, and the 3-inch objectives. 
For the purpose of illumination, the author employs a small mirror, which is let 
down into the fluid, and is capable of being moved in any direction by a simple 
arrangement of brass wires shown to the Section. 
On Flustrella hispida. By Professor Reprern, M.D. 
The author pointed out numerous inaccuracies in the existing descriptions of 
Flustrella hispida, under the names of Flustra hispida and Flustra carnosa, referring 
especially to the facts that no spines are ever to be found on that side of the aperture 
of the cell next its base; and that whilst in specimens gathered in Kincardineshire 
the spines are placed on the septa all round the cells, in those gathered in Dublin 
Bay the spines for the most part form a semicircle over the aperture, two or three 
only being found on the sides of thecellin rare instances. The author then described 
the structure of the polypide after its removal from the cell and its development by 
gemmation, describing its various stages from day to day, as it grew from a mere 
projection on the wall of the original cell, up to a complete cell with its spines and 
fully protruded polypide. The various characters of the perfectly formed zoophyte, 
with its cells set with spines, the most prominent features of its anatomical struc- 
ture, and the growth of the new being from day to day, were illustrated by a series 
of coloured drawings made by the author with the camera lucida. Microscopical 
preparations were also exhibited to the Section showing the characters of the cell, 
and of the polypide after its removal. . 
Notes on some of the Animals of Tibet and India. 
By Hermann and Rospert ScHLAGINTWEIT. 
The existence of the Yak, or Tibetan Ox (Bos grunniens), in a wild state has been 
repeatedly doubted, but we frequently found wild yaks. The chief localities where 
we met with them were both sides of the range which separates the Indus from the 
Sutlej, near the origin of the Indus, and near the environs of Gartok ; but the great- 
est number of them was at the northern foot of the high Karakorum range, as well 
