678 REPORT — 1891. 



The followiup^ Reports and Papers were read : — 



1. Fourth Report of the Committee appointed for the pxirpose of reporting on 

 the present state of our knowledge of the Zoology and Botany of the West 

 India Islands, and talcing steps to investigate ascertained deficiencies hi 

 the Fauna and Flora. — See Reports, p. 354. 



Eeport of the Committee appointed to report on the present state of o%ir 

 knowledge of the Zoology of the Sandwich Islands, and to take steps to 

 investigate ascertained deficiencies in the Fauna. — See Reports, p. 357. 



3. Fifth Report of the Committee appointed for the purpose of taking steps 

 for the establishment of a Botanical Laboratory at Peradeniya, Ceylon. — 



See Reports, p. 358, 



4. Report of a Committee appointed to make a digest of the observations on 



the Migration of Birds at Lighthouses and Light-vessels which have been 

 carried on by the Migration Committee of the British Association. — See 

 Reports, p. 363. 



5. Fourth Report of the Committee for the purpose of collecting information 



as to the disappearance of Native Plants from their Local Habitats. — 

 See Reports, p. 359. 



6. Report of the Committee appointed for the purpose of arranging for the 



occupation of a Table at the Laboratory of the Marine Biological Asso- 

 ciation at Plymouth. — See Reports, p. 364. 



Report of the Committee appointed for Improving and Experimenting 

 with a Beep-sea Tow-net. — See Reports, p. 382. 



8. Non-sexual Formation of Spores in the Desmidiacece. 

 By A. W. Bennett. 



In at least two gatherings of Desmids from the neighbourhood of Hindhead in 

 Surrey, I have come across a phenomenon which I am not aware has been recorded 

 before in this family of Algae, viz. the formation of parthenospores without conju- 

 gation. The species was in all cases Closterimn lanceolatum, Ktz., and I have at 

 present seen four examples of it. In two of them one spore, in the other two 

 two spores, were formed within the frond. They appeared spherical or ellipsoidal 

 according to the view in which they were seen, and with perfectly smooth surface. 

 The fronds were distinctly alive, and the longitudinal chlorophyll-bands had under- 

 gone but little change from their ordinary form, except where interrupted by the 

 intervention of the spore. A similar phenomenon has been recorded in the allied 

 Zygnemaceie. 



9. On a simple Ap)paratus for the Cultivation of small organisms in Hang- 

 ing Drops, and in various Oases, under the Microscope. By Pro- 

 fessor Marshall Ward, F.R.S. 



The author has found it necessary to devise a culture-chamber capable of sup- 

 plying relatively large quantities of gases to the ordinary hanging-drop cultiva- 



