342 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



form has been found in many places on the Continent, and, 

 though already well " threshed," remains still no little puzzle. 



2Srd March, 1876. 



Blodgettia confervoides, Harvey, yrow* a new station (Bermuda), 

 and remarks on the possible parasitic nature of the presumed internal 

 strings of " spores.''' — Dr. E. Perceval Wright exhibited speci- 

 mens of Blodgettia confervoides, Harvey, from Bermuda. As is 

 ■well known Dr. Harvey described and figured this alga in his 

 ' Nereis Boreali-Americana ' as occurring at Key West and re- 

 ferred it to the family Valouiese. Although one of the most 

 wonderful of the Algse this piant does not appear to have been 

 studied or investigated during the twenty years that have 

 elapsed since it was forwarded to Dr. Harvey by Dr. Blodgett, 

 from Florida. On the authority of Mr. Farlow (' Proc. Amer. 

 Acad, of Arts and Sciences, ' vol. x, 1875) M. Bornet had 

 suggested that the spores (?) are parasitic unicellular Algae, and, 

 if so, then the plant itself will be undoubtedly a Cladophora — 

 either, CI. caespitosa, as at first imagined by Harvey, or near CI. 

 prolifera, as suggested by Parlow. The occurrence of the plant at 

 Bermuda is not without interest, believing, as Dr. Wright did, 

 that M. Bornet's surmise was right — it was noteworthy that it oc- 

 curred in the cells of the same species of Cladophora. It was 

 also of importance to recollect that the Blodgettia — adopting the 

 name in a new sense — was to be met with only in the very 

 oldest cells. There were numerous difiiculties in the way of 

 making out the minute details of structure from long-dried speci- 

 mens, and it is to be hoped that further light may be thrown on 

 the affinities of this form by some botanist residing near either 

 of its now known localities. Some superficial resemblance might 

 be observed between the moniliform string of spores as figured 

 by Harvey and the spores of Synchytrium anomalum as figured 

 by Schroeter, but it would be dangerous without much further 

 study to even hint that there might be an affinity between the 

 two. 



Crystals of Sulphate of Indigo exhibited. — Mr.B. Wills Richardson 

 exhibited a mounting of Crystals of Sulphate of Indigo prepared 

 with sulphuric acid and pure indigo, the latter kindly given to 

 him by Prof Emerson Reynolds. Some of the crystals were tinted 

 of a delicate blue colour and the forms of some were stellate, 

 many of the stellae having a striking resemblance to one of the 

 varieties of stellse of triple phosphate found in human urine. 

 All the crystals were polariscopic, the stellse resembling the 

 triple phosphate apparently the least so. Mr. Richardson ob- 

 served that he had some difficulty in getting the acid and indigo 

 to form the crystalline compound and after several attempts he 

 succeeded by the cautious application of heat. When sufficiently 

 dry the crystals were mounted in dammar solution. 



Section of Spine of Phyllacanthus baculosa exhibited. — Mr. 



