PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 171 



camerata was the one to which the specimen shown belonged. As age 

 advanced the mantle became folded back upon itself in a very curious 

 manner, and simultaneously with this there occurred a similar infolding 

 of the contiguous portions of the shell, by which two depressions were 

 produced, forming a fusiform chamber when the two valves came 

 together. In this cavity the embryonic shells were to be found. In 

 the specimens exhibited this chamber was well seen, although with few 

 exceptions the embryos had been removed. 



Edmonds's Automatic Mica Stage, rotating by clockwork, was exhi- 

 bited and described. It had been devised by Mr. John Edmonds, of 

 Hockley, formerly President of the Birmingham Microscopical Society 

 (mpra, p. 111). 



Mr. Crisp said that, though having by experience become wary as to 

 ' small-type paragraphs appearing at the bottom of newspaper columns 

 having marvellous headings, but found at the end to be advertisements 

 (such as " A False Swain and a Deluded Spinster," which advocated a hair 

 nostrum), he was taken in by an article which was placed at the head of a 

 column and had attracted his attention by the reference to " The Micro- 

 scope" and "The many puzzling secrets revealed by this wonderful 

 instrument." On reading it the article was found to be an ingeniously 

 worded advertisement of a wonderful " cure." It was the first time that 

 he had seen the Microscope thus made use of by advertisers as a victim 

 (supra, p. 138). 



Mr. A. W. Bennett gave a resume of his paper on " Fresh-water 

 Algae of the English Lake District. II. With descriptions of a new genus 

 and five new species," in continuation of his previous communication 

 on the same subject (supra, p. 1). 



The President said Mr. Bennett's paper was a most important contri- 

 bution to their knowledge of a subject which he had made so specially 

 his own. Only one who was a master of this branch of science could 

 recognize the new species in this manner, not only amongst British 

 organisms, but also in the case of foreign forms. 



Dr. G. Gulliver read a paper on Pelomyxa palustris (supra, p. 11). 



Prof. Stewart thought that the Fellows were much to be congratu- 

 lated upon the information which they had received in this paper. The 

 practice of staining in the course of the examination of these lowly 

 organisms had long been employed in rendering the nucleus of the cell 

 more distinct ; but, so far as he was aware, this was the first occasion 

 in which, in addition to staining, sections had been made. There were 

 of course many instances in which this could not be done with advan- 

 tage ; but in the case before them, in consequence of the large size of 

 the organism, section-cutting had been possible, and the results had 

 been so encouraging, that he hoped it would be applied in other cases 

 also. If they took a Pelomyxa they would see on a front view a large 

 creature very much like an Amoeba, and also like it, containing masses 

 of granules, which moved forward along those portions of the creature 

 which were extended in the direction in which it intended to move. If 

 they looked at it edgeways, they would see no difference between the 

 endoplasm and the exoplasm, so long as they looked at it in the ordinary 

 way, but if it was stained the granulated structure was at once revealed. 



