294 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
ties of form; we can gratify the esthetic sense; and the love of 
the marvellous even by the unscientific and untaught cultivation 
of its use as amateurs. But let us seek here to put it to its 
highest uses, to cultivate its highest objects, to learn its noblest 
lessons. 
I hope I have not dwelt unduly upon this point, but I may be 
permitted to conclude by expressing my great gratification at the 
working of the Society ; and in congratulating its members I may 
express the hope that its future success may be even greater than 
it has been in the past. 
The Scrutineers having handed in their Report, the following 
gentlemen were declared elected as officers for the ensuing 
ear :— 
ji President—Arthur E. Durham, F.L.S.  Vice-Presidents— 
Tilbury Fox, M.D.; Ernest Hart; William Hislop, F.R.A.S. ; 
John K. Lord, F.L.S. 
Treasurer—Robert Hardwicke, F.L.S. Seeretary—Witham 
M. Bywater. 
Committee—W. J. Arnold; N. Burgess; 8S. J. McIntyre; 
J. Slade. 
Mr. M. C. Cooke was elected Honorary Secretary for Foreign 
Correspondence. 
Nine members were elected. 
August 23rd, 1867. 
Mr. Artuur E. Duruam, President, in the Chair. 
Mr. R. T. Lewis read a Paper ‘On a Microscopical examina- 
tion of Mermis nigrescens.” In the course of which he gave a 
lucid and interesting account of the appearance of this hair-worm 
in large numbers on the morning following the night of June 
2nd, when a heavy thunderstorm passed over the Southern Coun- 
ties. They were found suspended from the leaves of apple-trees 
and shrubs. Sudden appearances of immense numbers of them 
took place in the years 1781, 1832, and 1845, on each occasion in 
the month of June, and immediately after thunderstorms with 
heavy rainfall. Their appearance on June 15th, 1845, has been 
described at great length by the Rev. L. Jenkyns in his “ Obser- 
vations on Natural History.” Mr. Lewis’s paper entered very 
minutely into the microscopical structure of the worm, and was 
illustrated by coloured diagrams and by specimens prepared to 
show the chief points of interest, which were exhibited under 
microscopes in the room. 
Twelve members were elected. 
