288 PROCEEDINGS OF socreries, — [Monthly Microscopical 
and so regular and constant is the arrangement in this respect as to 
afford good diagnoses between different orders or families of this class. 
Thus, e. g.. in Ruminantia and Rodentia the sheath of striped muscle 
clothes the entire length of the cesophagus; while in Man, Quadru- 
mana, and Equide, this sheath stops much short of the stomach. Of 
the Felidw the cesophageal sheath of striped muscle does not, though 
in the Urside it does, extend to the stomach. The author thinks the 
whole subject the more deserving of inquiry, because it is a neglected 
point in systematic zoology, and is generally treated in a perfunctory 
or erroneous manner. For example, in the current ‘ Anatomy of 
Vertebrates’ we have only a notice of the sheath of striped cesophageal 
muscle of Ruminants, as if several other mammalian orders were 
destitute of it; and the error is extended by a false comparison of this 
sheath of certain Birds with that of Ruminant Mammalia. But, in 
fact, the want of this sheath is a characteristic of Sauropsida; and it 
is remarkable that while this section of Vertebrates is thus deficient in 
striped muscular fibre on the cesophagus, the presence of this kind of 
muscle within the eye of Sauropsida is another distinction between 
them and the highest and lowest classes of Vertebrates. 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.* 
Royaut MicroscopicaL Society. 
Krne’s Cotuecr, October 12, 1870. 
James Glaisher, Esq., F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair. 
In opening the meeting, Mr. Glaisher stated that he had been 
requested to preside on that occasion in consequence of the inability 
of the President, from ill health, to do so. Mr. Reade, however, 
wished that his respects should be presented to the Fellows, and that 
his feeling of regret at not being able to meet them should be ex- 
pressed. He (Mr. Glaisher) was sure that the good wishes of the 
President would be reciprocated, and with the hope that at the next 
meeting he might be in a condition to resume his official position. 
It was announced by the Chairman that the volumes of the ‘ Philo- 
sophical Transactions’ which had been presented to the Society by 
the President, were now placed upon the shelves of the library, and 
were open to the inspection of the Fellows. 
The minutes of the last meeting were then read and confirmed. 
A list of donations made to the Society was read, and the thanks 
of the meeting presented to the respective donors, special mention 
being made of an interesting old volume entitled ‘ Abhandlungen von 
Insecten, by Jacob Schiffer, given by Dr. Millar; and also of some 
* Secretaries of Societies will greatly oblige us by writing their reports legibly 
—especially by printing the technical terms thus: H ydra—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.—Ep, M. M. J. 
