1070 



PKOCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



Mr. H. J. Dale exhibited a microtome wliicli lie bad made and patented, 

 tbe speciality of wbicb consisted in the arrangement for working it witb the 

 foot, so that botb bands were left free for cutting tbe sections. 



Mr. Crisp said it would be recognized as witbin tbe duty of tbe Society 

 to call attention to any important misstatements in tbe utterances of eminent 

 scientific men in relation to microscopical subjects, and be desired, tbere- 

 fore, to correct tbe statement of Sir Henry Eoscoe in bis Presidential 

 address to tbe last meeting of tbe Britisb Association, in wbicb be treated 

 tbe 1/100,000 of an incb as tbe limit of visibility witb tbe " bigbest known 

 magnifying power." Tbe limit sbould be at least tbe 1/500,000 of an incb. 



Tbe President said tbat tbe opinion expressed by Mr. Crisp was quite 

 in accordance witb tbe experience of tbose Fellows wbo bad worked witb 

 tbe bigber powers. He could say tbat be bad bimself certainly seen objects 

 wbicb were between tbe 1/200,000 and 1/300,000 of an incb {ante, p. 827). 



Col. O'Hara's furtber note on tbe ' Motion of Diatoms,' accompanying 

 photographs of Surirella, was read as follows : — 



" In my first communication on this subject I pointed out tbe means of 

 movement possessed by Navicula, and in my second tbat possessed by 

 Cocconeis. I now send an enlarged transparency on glass and an enlarged 

 print on Eastman's paper, which illustrate that possessed by tbe Surirella 

 form. It appears, therefore, that the means of movement which I suggested 

 as applicable to some forms of the Diatomacese is probably possessed by 

 all, viz. an undulating and extrusible membrane." 



Mr. P. H. Gosse's paper on ' Twenty-four more New Species of 

 Eotifera," all Britisb, was brought before the meeting by Prof. Bell, wbo 

 gave a resume of its contents (supra, p. 861). 



The President said it gave them great pleasure to receive communica- 

 tions such as this from time to time from Mr. Gosse, who was one of their 

 Honorary Fellows. 



Mr. C. R. Beaumont's paper, 'Observations on the Metamorphoses of 

 Amoehse and Actinophrys; was read, in which be stated that be bad watched 

 Amcelse^ change to Actinophrys, and the Actinophrys afterwards develope into 

 Bifflugia and Arcella. His observations bad been made witb so much care, and 

 were so detailed and repeated, tbat he considered he could not be mistaken. 



Prof. Bell said tbat in Amoeba they bad a naked mobile mass of proto- 

 plasm, apparently devoid of organs and continually changing in form ; in 

 Actinophrys there was an organism of definite form, and provided witb a 

 number of long, straight processes ; whilst in Bifflugia they bad a regular 

 mass of protoplasm provided with a case which it made for itself out of the 

 debris of shell or other materials by which it happened to be surrounded. 

 That an Amoeba sbould develope into an Actinophrys was a fact which might 

 or might not be proved ; but it must be borne in mind that tbe term Amoeba 

 was used not only in the strict sense in which one would use the terms 

 Homo or JEquus, but as designating any of a number of similar forms. Any 

 statement, therefore, as to Amceba passing into Actinophrys stood upon a 

 different basis from that of Actinophrys passing into Bifflugia. 



Mr. Badcock said he had seen the paper, as well as some letters from 

 Mr. Beaumont, who had also sent him two bottles of water, which be found 

 to contain a number of naked Amcebee, and also^some of tbe testaceous forms, 

 most of wbicb, however, were empty. He bad examined some of the speci- 

 mens, but bad not been able to follow out bis observations, for various 



