( 189 ) 

 PEOCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.* 



KoYAL Microscopical Society. 



King's College, March 6, 1872. 



Wm. Kitclien Parker, Esq., F.R.S., in tlie chair. 



The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. 



A list of donations was read, and the thanks of the meeting given 

 to the respective donors. 



A paper was read from Dr. Woodward, U. S. Army, " On Resolution 

 of Ampkipleiira pellucida by a ^o ^^ ^- ^^^ J- Beck, compared with 

 other Objectives." The paper was illustrated by three i^hotographs, 

 taken by Dr. Woodward. The thanks of the meeting were accorded 

 to Dr. Woodward. 



In pursuance of the notice given at the preceding meeting, the 

 ballot was taken for the election of Dr. George Charles Wallich as an 

 Honorary Fellow of the Society, and the President announced his 

 election. 



Mr. J. W. Stephenson then read a description of " Stephenson's 

 Erecting Binocular." 



The thanks of the meeting were presented to Mr. Stephenson. 



Dr. Klein then read a paper " On the First Stage of the Develop- 

 ment of the Common Trout " [Salmo fario). 



The President said he knew of nothing more interesting than the 

 subject of Dr. Klein's jiaper. Anyone getting fairly started on the 

 develoj)ment of the embryo from the fecund ative germ, had entered 

 upon the most beautiful and interesting portion of science. The sub- 

 ject possessed charms for him which could be found in nothing else. 

 In comparison with Dr. Klein's researches, his own seemed coarse and 

 secondary. He wanted to know how the processes described took 

 place ; how the germinal mass through the amoeboid particles could in 

 some wonderful way fetch material from one part to carry it to another ; 

 what the fission of the primary parts meant. Numbers of such 

 questions arose in the mind of the biologist in listening to such a 

 paper as Dr. Klein's. His own work lay in the parts that formed 

 right and left of the notochord, and in those parts that grew round 

 the nervous centres ; and he wanted it shown what was the difference 

 between the parts that formed round the face downwards, and those 

 growing downward from each side the notochord ; what was the rela- 

 tion to the ear and the nasal sacs ; and what the facial arches were ; 

 we did not know what to call them. A very interesting paper had 

 come before the Linnean Society,! written by his friend St. George 

 Mivart, on the laminae that formed the peritoneum, as well as on those 

 that formed the outer Trails of the chest. All these were intensely 

 absorbing researches, rivalling in wonder the questions that occupy 

 even the astronomer himself. He (the President) had seen in Dr. 



* Secretaries of Societies will greatly oblige us by writing their report legibly 

 — especially by printing the technical terms thus : H y dr a— and by "underlining" 

 words, such as specific names, which must be printed in italics. They will thus 

 secure accuracy and enhance the value of their proceedings. — Ed. ' M. M. J.' 



t ' Trans. Lin. Soc.,' vol. xxvii., pp. 369-392, plate Ixiii. 



