424 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



New Fossil Fish. — Mr. James Reid laid on the table and gave a 

 short and very interesting account of a fossil fish which he had 

 obtained two or three years ago from the Gault, near Folkstone. 

 Dr. Gilnther, having examined the specimen, stated that it is quite 

 new, and belongs to the Clupeoidei, and he has named it Thrissopater 

 Sctlmoneus ; a very valuable addition to our fossil fauna. 



Ammoccetes hmnchialis. — Mr. George Gulliver (of Pembroke 

 College, Oxford) showed under the microscope sections of this 

 larval fish, made by hardening in chromic acid and staining with 

 carmine. Though the eyes do not appear externally, perfect eyes 

 and their chambers and crystalline lens were seen in the sections ; 

 the auditory sac and its coarsely ciliated epithelium were shown, 

 as were also the ovaries, well developed in this immature fish, with 

 numerous ova presenting the germinal vesicle and spot ; and the 

 infolding of the inner coats of the gut, like an intestine within an 

 intestine, was well displayed. All these points are easily seen 

 under the microscope by this method of preparation. 



Eggs of Argas reflexus and Ixodes Dugesii. — Some females of 

 these Acarina having been confined in boxes kept in Mr. Gulliver's 

 library, and at Mr. Fullagar's, during May and June, continued lively 

 without food up to the beginning of July, about which time they 

 were found to have laid many eggs. Of Argas these were spherical, 

 generally about 3-^4th of an inch in diameter, of a dull grayish 

 colour, and slightly rough on the surface ; a few of them were of a 

 suboval shape. Thus, these eggs differ from those of Ixodes Dugesii 

 in size and shape, for of this last species the eggs are regularly 

 oval, about -^xi^h of an inch long and ^\t\\ broad, very smooth and of 

 a shining chocolate colour ; in both species the egg-shells are com- 

 posed of chitine. 



Julg ISth, 1872. — Excursion. — This took place in the neighbour- 

 hood, and the party was hospitably entertained by the A^ice-Pre- 

 sident of the Society, Colonel Horsley, at his residence, St. Stephen's 

 Lodge, near Canterbury. 



Raphides of Onagraceoe. — The botanical specimens brought in 

 from the excursion, with several other contributions by Mrs. Dean, 

 were the following : — Epilobium parviflorum, Torilis anthriscus, 

 Lathyrus pratensis, Scrophularia aquatica. Ranunculus scleratus, 

 Eryngium maritimum, Hyoscyamus niger, Salsola kali, Trifolium 

 fragiferum, Lactuca saligna, Artemesia maritima, Cynoglossum offi- 

 cinale, Carex vulpina, and Poa pratensis. This miscellaneous and 

 random collection affording a good opportunity for trials of the 

 value of the raphidiau character, these were carefully made. The 

 result was that in no plant were any raphides found except in the 

 Epilohium, in which they were, as they regularlj^ are in the order 

 to which it belongs, very plain and abundant. And thus in our 

 flora the diagnosis was maintained, as formerly shown, of Ona- 

 gracejE — CaJycifloral exogens abounding in raphides. Yet this 

 short diagnosis, so easily demonstrable and eminently natural, has 

 not yet found its place in our books of systematic botany. 



Auditory Capsule of Molhcsca. — In the little bivalve Gyclas 

 cornea, so common in our ditches, the auditory vesicle and its 



