PKOOEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 55 



seated. Examples miglit be found in the green-pea sliell, the garlic, 

 green fig stem, gladiolus, &c., and very abundantly in the soap tree of 

 South America, used in Peru as a substitute for soap in the cleansing 

 wool or hair, or in washing. 



Chemically, plant crystals were chiefly composed of oxalates of 

 lime and magnesia, or phosphate of lime. 



Professor Gulliver's researches showed that so persistent were 

 raphides in certain families of plants, and so absent in others, that it 

 was possible to differentiate, at all stages of their growth, betv\'een 

 plants otherwise apparently allied. Thus Onagracece and Galliacece 

 abounded in rapMdes, while none of their near neighbours contained 

 them. So likewise the red berries of black bryony and cuckoo-pint 

 could be distinguished from those of red bryony and giielder-rose, by 

 the presence in the fii'st two and the absence in the last two of 

 raphides. 



To the botanical student characters such as those indicated were 

 of very great value, and to the microscopist a wide field of research 

 was opened, for not only would he find plants containing one or other 

 of the plant crystals described, but great differences in their shape 

 and size ; nany of them, too, imder polarized light were very beau- 

 tiful ; while a lesson was to be learnt by all, that they were not 

 accidents of decay or disease, but part of the economy of life in the 

 plants in which they were found. 



After a discussion, in which Drs. Hallifax, Corfe, the President, 

 Mr. Glaisyer, and others took part, Mr. Henry Lee, who had been 

 recently elected an honorary member, presented for distribution spe- 

 cimens of the skin of the rough-hound, and explained the mode of 

 mounting and also of separating the spine-like scales, by dissolving 

 away the animal matter by means of liquor potassce ; by this method 

 the spines with their socket attachments were well shown. He 

 hoped in time to bring down from the aquarium skins of all the dog- 

 fishes, so that the members might each have a perfect series in their 

 cabinets. 



A vote of thanks was given to Mr. Lee. 



Eeading Microscopical Society.* 



March 3. — Mr. Tatem exhibited an ant-like insect, from Ceylon, 



belonging to the order Heterogyna, sub-order Mutilla, insects of solitary 

 habits, each species being composed of winged males and apterous 

 females ; the latter always armed with a jiowerful sting. The insertion 

 of the antennae near the mouth would indicate the a£Snity of the speci- 

 men with the genera Dorylus and Lahidus, Indian, African, and South 

 American insects, found in dry sandy districts, running with great 

 speed and actively predaceous. The large eyes, long legs, and stout 

 anterior tarsi, with claws developed into powerful chelas, show eminent 

 fitness for the piu'suit and apprehension of living insect prey, so far 

 agreeing vsdth the genera referred to. There are, however, some points 



* Kcport furnished by Mr. B. J. Austin. 



