54 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
Liverpoont MicroscopicaAL Society. 
The eighth ordinary meeting of this Society was held on Friday 
evening, November 3, at the Royal Institution, the President, Rev. 
H. H. Higgins, in the chair. 
Mr. Edward Davies, F.C.S., made a communication on the 
Didymohelix ferruginea, formerly called the Gallionella, a genus of 
Oscillatoriacee (confervoid alge) which is by no means common. 
Through the aid of an old pupil he had found it in remarkable 
quantity in drains and ditches in the neighbourhood of the Lochar 
Moss, Dumfriesshire, where it accumulates ten or twelve inches in 
depth. This deposit is locally called iron ore, and the careful 
analysis he had made showed that it contained 33°10 per cent. of 
iron, The Didymohelix is a test-object, for the general excellence 
of a high-power object-glass, also of the observer’s management of 
the microscope. 
Mr. G. F. Chantrell, Honorary Secretary, read a paper, “ Recent 
Observations on the Development of Animal Life in Vegetable Pro- 
toplasm.” He stated, after referring to a recent paper in ‘ Popular 
Science Review, that he had devoted some time to the careful study 
of the Volvow globator, and had examined a large number during the 
recent summer; that there were two kinds,—the early stage, when 
they are vigorous and produce young volvoces, and a later one, in 
which remarkable changes of the contained spheres are seen, a 
gradual development into eggs, and finally the Rotifer; specimens of 
these he had shown to members of the Society, and said that there 
was no resisting the conviction that the Rotifers (animal) are de- 
veloped in the Volvox (vegetable ?), or, in other words, that animal 
germs are taken up in vegetable protoplasm, just, as has been said, 
that Diatomacez are absorbed into the roots of plants, and are built 
up unaltered into their stem substance. These germs develop in the 
Volvox into eggs, and then hatch there. Mr. Chantrell said that there 
was no more remarkable instance of the power of vegetable pro- 
toplasm than is shown in the Oscillatoria which he had recently 
under observation. The name is derived from their singular oscil- 
lating movements. He had placed some in a live-box and kept them 
under observation two or three days ; at first they were extremely active 
and life-like, reminding him much of the Spirilla. After two days 
these broke up into cells; after a time these loose cells began to 
form in small clusters, which still retained a slight restless move- 
ment; numbers clustered in a circular form, and these after a while 
were invested with a nimbus or ring forming a complete cell. On 
further investigation these cells showed movement of the contents, 
and contained many nuclei. These facts have been frequently 
verified. Mr. Chantrell then referred to the flow of protoplasm in 
the hairs or rootlets of the Hydrocharis, or frogbit, a well-known 
and common pond plant; and described three conditions of the 
circulation, showing, when it became languid and almost ceased, 
that living organisms are soon to be seen sporting about in the 
internode; that in the hairs of the Nitella he had seen, a few nights 
oe 
