20 RKPOKTS OF SOCIKTIKK. 



December 20th.— Microscopical Meeting — Dr. A. Milnes Marshall and Mr. 

 W. P. Marshall presented the first portion of a " Report on the Pennatulida 

 collected in the Oban Dredging Excursion," which is printed in this numl)er. 

 Mr. W. R. Hughes exhibited, through the kindness of Dr. Cobbold, eggs of 

 Bilharzia hcBmatohia (from the living subject), from which the embryos were 

 hatched in the room. Bilharzia is a trematode entozoon, and undergoes 

 alternations of generations similar to those of the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica. 

 It is especially prevalent in Egypt, the young being found, according to some 

 authorities;, in the waters of the Nile, in the fishes which abound therein, or 

 even in bread, grain, and fruit. Dr. Cobbold, however, who has paid great 

 attention to this parasite, considers " that the larvae in the form of cercaria3 

 and sporocysts will be found in certain gastropod molluscs, from which the 

 adult forms have been obtained." The perfect fluke— the male of which 

 measures about half an inch in length, and is shaped somewhat like ahorse-leech, 

 with one sucker; the female is smaller, being about four-fifths of an inch — has 

 only been found in man and the quadrumana. In these it mainly exists in the 

 portal system of blood-vessels. In man it is known to give rise to very serious 

 symptoms, causing diarrhoea, hEematuria, great prostration of the vital powers, 

 and even death. The eggs are variable in outline, mostly oval or pyriforni, 

 furnished with a spine-like process, and having an operculum. The living 

 embryos,on being hatched in tepid water,swim about vigorously by means of their 

 cilia. They ai'e conical in shape, and measure about 5^5 in. in length, and g^^ in. 

 transversely. Mr. Hughes remarked that too much importance could not be 

 attached to the study of the entozoa generally from a sanitary point of view. 

 Dr. Cobbold had again and again insisted on the trite proverb—" prevention is 

 better than cure," and if due attention were paid to the cooking of meat and 

 vegetables, and no salads were eaten without being thoroughly washed in pure 

 water and dried first, and no water drunk, except of the purest kind, unless it 

 had been well filtered, many valuable lives would annually be saved. In the 

 ease of the present exhibit, Dr. Cobbold had shown that the malady was due to 

 the patient drinking unflltered water. 



BIRMINGHAM MICROSCOPISTS' AND NATURALISTS' UNION.— November 

 14th.— Annual Meeting. — Mr. J. W. Turner elected president. November 21st. 

 — Mr. Boland exhibited various land shells, among which were Acme Hneata and 

 Bythinia LeacMi. Mr. Delicate exhibited common squirrel, which had eaten 

 away one of its fore-paws, that had become entangled in the branches of a 

 tree ; and Mr. J. W. Neville microscopical coal sections, showing fern sporangia 

 with spores in situ, and transverse section of fern stem, Bachiopteris cyHvdrica. 

 A paper was read by Mr. Searle on "Our Common Trees," illustrated by 

 sketches and specimens of leaves, flowers, and fruit. November 2Sth. — Mr. 

 Darley showed sword grass satellite, and November and December moths, taken 

 at Sutton Park ; Mr. Boland, land shells from Africa and the Philippine Islands ; 

 Mr. J. W. Neville, transverse section of sugar-cane. Mr. Blay, Euomplialus 

 discors, and Strophotnena, from Wenlock Beds, Benthal Edge ; Mr. Delicate, 

 transverse section of pine stem and lilac ; Mr. J. Wykes, an astronomical 

 telescope, by which was seen Saturn, with its ring and satellites ; the Moon, its 

 hills and their craters, were well seen under a high power. December 4th. — Mr. 

 J. W. Neville showed lingual ribbon of Haliotis tuberculata, under microscope ; 

 also shell of same ; Mr. Deakin, S. convolvuli, caught at Handsworth IGtli of 

 September of the present year ; ditto from Gloucester ; also a number of 

 Ichneumons from various moth chrysalides, and several peculiar Dipterous 

 parasites from Magpie Moth, A.psi, and P. rajice ; Mr. Baxter, sori of Haresfoot 

 Fern. December 12. — Mr. Insley exhibited specimens of Encrinites from Wenlock 

 Beds, Dudley, showing stem, tentacula, and their fringes of cilia; also specimens of 

 Neuropteris from the coalfields, Bilston. Mr. J. W. Neville exhibited coal section 

 showing excreta of insects deposited In the tissues of plants which they had 

 eaten, probably while in the larval stage; Mr. Boland, male Kesti-el Hawk, 

 caught in the neighboui'hood ; Mr. Wykes, vertical section of tooth of pig, and 

 coal section showing sporangia, 



