20-4 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



fisb, a defect wliicli was painful to the eye of tlie ichtliyologist ; 

 and that art should, in this as in other cases, take a lesson from 

 nature. The so-called Adipose "Fin, commonly described as 

 " without any rays whatever," was shown, under an object-glass 

 of half-an-ineh focal length, to be quite devoid of any fat, and 

 provided with a multitude of very thin rays, some of which occa- 

 sionally project beyond the free margin of the fin. But these rays, 

 being homogeneous, transparent, and structureless, like the fibres 

 of the crystalline lens, and unprovided with muscle for their move- 

 ments, are not quite identical with the true rays of the locomotive 

 fins. The Fibres of the Crystalline Lens were shown to afford a 

 good example of the sinuous and interlocking edges ; and these 

 being compared with those of other fishes, were proved to afford 

 excellent taxonomic characters between different members of the 

 class. Thus, e. g. the lens-fibres of the Lampreys are smooth at 

 the edges ; of the common Eel but little indented ; of the Conger 

 more so ; and, of the majority of the class, so very much and 

 deeply notched, as to produce the well-known interlocking or 

 dove-tailing of the margins of the fibres, as is well seen in 

 the salmon-family. Nor is the difference of the diameter of 

 the fibres less remarkable in different orders of the class. The 

 facts were illustrated by preparations, and extemporaneous dissec- 

 tions, under the deep glasses of Colonel Horsley's, Mr. Sydney 

 Harvey's, and Mr. Bell's microscopes, thus showing how easily 

 the objects may be displayed, even by the most inexperienced 

 micrographers, and what really beautiful preparations may be 

 made of these fibres from the lenses of difterent fishes, ever 

 ready at the shops as well as in the great field of nature. In 

 fact, this kind of microscopic inquiry is at once so useful and 

 delightful, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, that it 

 seems amazing that one or other of our great Microscopical 

 Societies has not yet given precise directions concerning the 

 various branches thereof, for the guidance of those numberless 

 microscopists who are now wasting their energies in advertisements 

 and anxious searches for "good stuff for the microscope." But 

 the worthy veteran Dr. Lankester had taken a right step in 

 this direction, by pointing out what profitable objects the cell- 

 structure of plants might thus afford. And now we have seen 

 how even such a single part as the eye-lens of animals might be 

 easily made into numberless microscopic objects, very beauti- 

 ful individually and not less useful collectively in the service of 

 systematic zoology. 



30^7^. — The General Annual Meeting was held ; and the Report, 

 containing the Address of the President, the report of the 

 Committee, the Proceedings of the Society, and other matters, 

 has since been issued to the members. There was afterwards a 

 recess of several weeks. 



March Ith. — Colonel Horsley gave some explanatory sketches 

 of his views concerning his method of resolving the markings 

 of Pleurosigma. Mr. Pullagar produced very small and lively 



