742 EEPOKT— 1892. 



established theory, for theories are but the leaves of the tree of science ; they bud 

 and expand, and in lime they fade and fall, but they enable the tree to breathe 

 and live. If this address has been full of speculation, I trust you will allow that 

 the scientific u«e of the imag-ination is a necessary stimulus to thought, by which 

 alone we can break a path through the dense thicket of the unknown that sur- 

 rounds us. 



The following Reports and Papers were read : — 



1. Fifth Report of the Committee on the Present State of our Knowledge of 

 the Zoolorjii and Botany of the West India Islands, and on talcing steps 

 to investigate ascertained Deficiencies in the Fauna and Flora. — See 

 Reports, p. 35.3. 



2. Report of the Committee for carry ing on a definite piece of Work at the 



Zoological Station at Naples. — See Reports, p. 344. 



3. Draft of Report of the Cornrn.ittee on the Present State of our Knowledge 

 of the Zoology of the Sandwich Islands. — See Reports, p. 355. 



4. Fifth Report of the Committee appointed for the purpose of talcing steps 

 for the estahlishnient of a Botanical Laboratory at Peradeuiya, Ceylon. — 

 See Reports, p. 363. 



5. Report of a Committee on the Migration of Birds at Lighthouses and 

 Light-vessels. — See Reports, p. 300. 



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

 occupation (fa Table at the Laboratory of tlie Marine Biological Asso- 

 ciation at Plymoiith. — See Reports, p. 356. 



7. Report of the Committee for Improving and Experimenting with a Deep- 



sea Tow-net, for opening and closing under water. — See Reports, p. 366, 



8. Report of the Committee appointed to consider proposals for the Legisla- 

 tive Protection of Wild-birds' Eggs. — See Reports, p. 366. 



9. On the Physiology of Protoplasm. By Professor W. Pbeyer. 



10. On RabVs Doctrine of the Personality of the Segynerds of the Nucleus, and . 

 Weisma7in's 'Idant ' Theory of Heredity. By Professor Marcus Hartog, 

 D.Sc, M.A. 



•> 



The nucleus of a cell about to divide undergoes the following changes : — 



The hyaloplasniic structures become ultimately resolved into threads of ap- 



proximately_ the same size. The chromatin or nuclein granules become nearly 



uniform in size, and are grouped in single file along the threads or segments which 



thus constitute the nuclear segments or chromosomes of Boveri, the ' idants ' of 



