306 



2Uh March, 1870. 



Professor E. Perceval AVriglit exhibited minute portions of the 

 strange organism Myriosteon Higginsii (J. E. Gray) ; for these 

 he was indebted to the great kindness of his friend Dr. Gray. A 

 careful examination, both chemical and microscopical, showed that 

 the Myriosteon was portion of the cartilaginous skeleton of a fish. 

 On the outer surface of the portion examined there was imbedded 

 a minute foraminiferous shell, and from an examination of this 

 portion Dr. Wright thought for a moment that the whole struc- 

 ture might be foraminiferous, but this idea was soon dissipated 

 on a section being made. It might, therefore, after all turn out 

 to be a portion of some ray, though from a comparison of the 

 tails of several species of rays from Mathe which were at hand 

 for comparison, it did not appear that it could be any portion of 

 a tail of a ray. As Dr. J. E. Gray has sent portions of the struc- 

 ture to Mr. Carter and Dr. Giinther, the solution of this problem 

 cannot be far off. Dr. Wright's great object was to determine 

 whether it was or was not any portion of an echinoderm, and, 

 thanks to Dr. Gray, he had been able to say that it is certainly 

 piscine and not any portion of an echinoderm. 



Mr. Archer once more referred to the large green Actinophryan 

 to which he had on a previous occasion drawn the Club's attention 

 (see Minutes of 15th April, 1869), although he had not any ex- 

 amples now to exhibit, for the purpose of recording two suffi- 

 ciently remarkable circumstances. The first was (what he had 

 for some time supposed) that this form is characterised by the 

 possession of a sharply-defined, spherical, clear, and colourless 

 body immersed in the very centre of the body-mass, which seemed 

 to be a veritable " central capsule." This was the then unde- 

 cided point alluded to by him on the previous occasion (loc. cit.), 

 and he trusted to be able on some future opportunity to demon- 

 strate the existence of this to thej Club, although it would be a 

 matter of some nicety and difficulty, assisted by a certain amount 

 of good fortune, to manipulate a specimen at a meeting so as 

 successfully to extrude it intact ; and a specimen freshly prepared 

 previous to the meeting would not keep in good condition for ex- 

 hibition sufficiently long. This spherical "capsule" resisted various 

 re-agents. It would serve no good purpose (as here it could be 

 done only inadequately) to enlarge to any greater extent at 

 present on the affinities presented or on the resemblances or the 

 specialities of this fine form, which is widely enough distributed 

 in Ireland, but very local and scanty ; though mostly green and 

 very handsome, Mr. Archer felt that, still less than Acantliocystis 

 turfacea (Carter), it was not at all the same thing as Actinophrys 

 viridis (Ehr.), and just as little was it, he thought, the oft- 

 debated A. sol, though, perhaps, coming closer to A. octdata 

 (Stein), which Mr. Archer would venture to hold was distinct 

 from both.— The second circumstance alluded to by Mr. Archer 

 would be infinitely less easy to demonstrate at pleasure, for, 



