258 PROCEEDINGS OP SOCIETIES. 



round for the inspection of the Fellows. The paper is printed at 

 p. 218. 



Votes of thanks to Mr. Sanders and to Mr. Kitton for their com- 

 munications were unanimously passed. 



Mr. Slack remarked that the danger of naming objects upon insuffi- 

 cient information received fresh illustration from the paper, in which 

 mention was made of a species of TBiceratium having seven points. 



Mr. Slack said he had brought to the meeting some films of silica 

 prepared from a solution containing a mixture of one part of water and 

 four parts of glycerine. Some of them were exceedingly delicate, and 

 it was not possible to get good definition of them with high power 

 objectives of large angles. When seen with a glass of large angular 

 aperture there were so many false images that the true effect of what 

 ought to be seen was entirely lost. He had, however, been able to 

 obtain some good definitions with an object-glass, ^th, 60^ aperture, used 

 in conjunction with Mr. Wenham's dark-ground illuminator. It was 

 of interest to know that in searching for minute particles of a highly 

 refractive nature they could not always be detected with a high-angled 

 lens. Most microscopists would still persist in using these objectives 

 for all purposes, in spite of what had been pointed out by Dr. Carpenter, 

 Mr. Brooke, and others. By using a small-angled glass they would 

 often see much more, and when Mr. Wenham's illuminator was also 

 used, effects would be obtained which seemed to be unattainable in any 

 other way. 



Mr. Charles Stewart called the attention of the meeting to a very 

 curious living organism which was exhibited in the room by Mr. 

 Badcock. He then drew it upon the black-board, and gave a general 

 description of its appearance, expressing a hope that all who were 

 present would avail themselves of the opportunity of seeing it. He 

 was quite unable to say what it was, but from its general appearance 

 he thought it was something like an entozoon. 



Mr. Badcock, in reply to a question from the President, said that 

 the creature was developed in his aquarium in the month of June last. 

 He thought at first that it must be the larval condition of some other 

 form, but it did not seem to have undergone any change in the course 

 of four months. The only suspicious thing in the aquarium was a 

 fresh-water mussel, he did not know whether that had anything to do 

 with it. He had brought some sketches of it, which were placed upon 

 the table for inspection. 



The President invited information upon the subject from the 

 Fellows present, who he hoped would examine it and say if they 

 thought it to be a larval condition, or a perfect animal, or what ? 



Mr. Slack said that in its extraordinary jjower of changing its 

 shape it resembled JBucephalus iwlymorjiilms* an entozoon found in 

 fresh water, but then it was unlike it in other respects. 



The President directed the attention of the Fellows to a remarkable 

 collection of photographs of animal tissues and morbid conditions of 

 the same, which had been jjresented to the Society by the Army 

 Medical Department, Washington. 

 * Prof. Reay Greeue has since seen the animal, and considers it a Bucephalus. 



