388 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. 

 Vol. III., Part 4. Norwich : Fletcher & Son. 1883. 



It was not without good reason that the President of this 

 Society, Mr. H. D. Geldart, at the annual meeting held at Norwich 

 in March last, congratulated the members on the very flourishing 

 state of the Society. He was able to announce a steady 

 increase in the number of members, useful additions to the 

 library, and the exchequer in a satisfactory condition. He might 

 have gone further, and congratulated the members upon the excel- 

 lent qualitj' of the papers which are periodically printed in the 

 Society's 'Transactions,' a circumstance which, it must be ad- 

 mitted, contributes very materially to the stability of the Society. 



In the part before us we have an exceptionally good number, 

 containing papers not rnerety of local interest, but important 

 contributions to general Zoology. 



It has long been known that many of the lower animals 

 contain granules of chlorophyll, and it has been found that this 

 chlorophyll, tested by the spectroscope, is chemically identical 

 with the true chlorophyll of green leaves, and several theories 

 have been advanced to account for the presence of these green 

 bodies in such animals as Hydra viridis, and Spongilla. One 

 theory is that the green bodies are true chlorophyll granules ; 

 another that they are not produced by the animals themselves, 

 but are parasites ; and a third that in the Protozoa, at all events, 

 they are merely portions of vegetable organisms which have 

 been absorbed. Mr. Geldart selected this theme for his Presi- 

 dential Address on the occasion above referred to, and in the 

 part of the ' Transactions' now before us will be found his resume 

 of the observations of Herr Brandt and Mr. P. Geddes, com- 

 municated to the Physiological Society of Berlin and the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh respectively, embodying an instructive 

 account of the most recent investigations on this subject. 



In this same part, also, Mr. Geldart has an original paper on 

 Marine Algre, forming Part X. of the " Fauna and Flora of 

 Norfolk." Most of the sea-weeds collected on the Norfolk coast, 

 it seems, are water-borne, and often show by their condition that 

 they have come from a considerable distance, few if any rocks 

 being accessible, even at the time of the lowest tides. It is to 

 this cause that Mr. Geldart attributes the absence of a good 



