PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 321 



various crystals, and specimens of coal and oolitic limestone, 

 which connect minerals with vegetable and animal forms. The 

 vegetable kingdom was represented, first, by the simplest cell, the 

 yeast plant ; then by an alga, a fern, various woody sections, 

 petals and pollen ; also a few objects to show the dubious but con- 

 necting links between the animal and vegetable kingdoms, aaVolvox 

 (/lobator, a desmid and a diatom ; then the lowest acknowledged 

 animal forms were represented, by sponges and Foraminifera, and 

 Mollusca, advancing to parts of insects and mammals, followed by 

 injected sections of the human finger and brain; finally, works of 

 art, comprising the micro-pliotographs of the eminent chemists, 

 Davy, Wollastou, Faraday, and Dalton, the series being crowned 

 by the ' British Association Circular ' for 1861, photogi'aphed for 

 the occasion by Mr. Dancer, comprising the names of the officers 

 for the year, representatives of that society, which cultivates the 

 icnowledge of the works of the Creator, the material portions of 

 Avhich this exhibition was designed to illustrate. 



AVhere each was excellent of its kind, it is difficult to particu- 

 larise specimens ; but in the mineral kingdom, that, perhaps, 

 unequalled specimen of hypersthene described in the ' Quarterly 

 Journal of Microscopical Science' for April, belonging to Mr. 

 H. ]N". Janson, of Exeter, and kindly lent by him for the occasion, 

 should be first mentioned. Amongst other objects, a curious 

 fungus, found growing upon a leaf ; Lagense belonging to Pro- 

 fessor Williamson, and described by him in the ' British Fora- 

 minifera,' published by the Eay Society ; the dissected larva of 

 a silkworm, prepared by Mr. A. Gr. Latham ; the ovipositor of 

 the saw-fl3% belonging to Mr. Samuelsou, of Liverpool ; and the 

 ])alate of a cowry, prepared by Dr. Alcock, were particularly 

 noticed. 



In the gallery, under the special charge of Dr. Wm. Roberts, 

 secretary of the physiological section, objects relating to anatomy 

 and physiology were exhibited by about a dozen private micro- 

 scopes. Amongst others were some remarkable specimens pre- 

 pared by Dr. Beale, F.E.S., J. Lockhart Clarke, Esq., F.E.S., of 

 London, and by Professor Hyrtl, of Vienna, exhibited by Dr. E. 

 Percival "Wright, of Dublin. 



In a small anteroom the Eev. St. Vincent Beechey exhibited 

 a number of objects with the polariscope, illuminated by the 

 oxyhydrogen light. In the same room the Eev. Mr. Kingsley, of 

 Cambridge, showed in operation his apparatus for photographing 

 microscopical objects by the oxyhydrogen light. 



Near the entrance to the drawing room Messrs. Williamson 

 and Binney exhibited, by means of magnifying glasses, large 

 transparent sections of the fossil vegetables from which coal has 

 been formed, from the lower Lancashire coal fields. 



In the drawing room, under the charge of Mr. J. G. Lynde, 

 assisted by most of the owners of the instruments, eighteen first- 

 class microscopes were exhibited with objects, which were changed 



