284 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



The photographs were certainly very fine, and although it would be 

 invidious to say they were the finest they had seen, remembering how 

 many beautiful specimens they had received from Dr, Woodward, yet 

 he was sure all would agree with him that these photographs of 

 Dr. Gayer were very fine ones, and if he went on with that kind 

 of work they should be very glad indeed to hear of his further success, 

 and to see the results at some future time. He had not himself 

 attempted photography of this kind, except with powers of 9 or 10 

 linear, but he knew quite enough of it to enable him to admire the 

 very excellent work which Dr. Gayer had produced. 



Mr. Glaisher said that the President had touched upon rather a 

 delicate point in mentioning what had been done by others, and he 

 had himself made use of this in urging Dr. Gayer to persevere ; he 

 had told him that Mr. Woodward was going so far ahead of us in this 

 respect, that he was bound to do his utmost to produce work of the 

 highest merit, especially as he was going to a clearer atmosphere and 

 brighter sun than we possessed at home. 



Mr. Slack said there was one feature about these photographs 

 which appeared to him very remarkable. If they considered the extent 

 of power to which the objects were magnified, it was surprising how 

 very small the beads appeared, even when looked at with a magnifying 

 glass. This he thought showed in a high degree the excellence of 

 the work, as any defect in the objective or method exaggerated the 

 size of such objects. These were taken with Powell and Lealand's 

 ■j-^th. With regard to the holes mentioned by Dr. Gayer, and the 

 existence of which was said to be confirmed by the appearance of the 

 fractures, he could but observe that wherever a fracture was seen to 

 have taken place, it clearly occurred between the rows of beads, and 

 in each case the beads were seen to form projections all along the 

 terminal portion of the fractm-e ; so that it was only necessary to look 

 at Dr; Gayer's own very beautiful photographs to see that what he 

 said about the holes was not confirmed. 



Mr. Charles Brooke had noticed that wherever a fracture was 

 shown in the photographs, the row of beads on either side, and between 

 which the fracture had taken place, was most conspicuous. 



Mr. Glaisher, in reply to the President's inquiry as to the disposal 

 of the photographs, said that he had no limit in the matter, and he 

 should be happy to hand them over to the keeping of the Society. 



The thanks of the meeting were unanimously voted to Dr. Gayer 

 and Mr. Glaisher. 



A paper by Dr. J. J. Woodward, " On the Markings of the Body- 

 scale of the English Gnat and the American Mosquito," was read by 

 the Secretary, and some photographs in illustration of the subject 

 were handed round for the inspection of the Fellows. Some notes 

 upon Dr. Woodward's remarks, by Dr. Anthony, were also read to the 

 meeting. (See pp. 253 and 256.) 



The President proposed the thanks of the Society to Dr. Wood- 

 ward and Dr. Anthony for their papers, and remarked that the more 

 they looked into these questions, the more they began to doubt the 

 existence of some of the objects which they saw, and when they used 



