PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 1071 



reasons, the chief of which was that he did not possess the means adopted 

 by Mr. Beaumont, who had a special slide made for the purpose, which he 

 believed was a very good device. It embodied a method by which he was 

 able to keep the water in constant circulation, and it rotated in a way that 

 enabled him to make his observations continuously. He had asked 

 Mr. Beaumont to come to the meeting to tell them more about the matter, 

 but he was not able to do so. He promised, however, to exhibit bis apparatus 

 at a future meeting. In a further letter, Mr. Beaumont gave an account of 

 an observation made of a Euglena found inside an Actinophri/s, which, he 

 said, had been taken in during the Amoeba stage. In looking over some 

 old notes he had found a drawing, made in March 1880, which seemed to 

 correspond with one of the stages which Mr. Beaumont had called Amoeba 

 actinophrya. Mr. Beaumont had evidently worked very hard, and he thought 

 great interest should be taken in what he was doing. By their next meeting 

 he hoped to have some additional particulars. 



Prof. Stewart thought there was very little doubt that these organisms 

 existed under a variety of forms, and that there was nothing improbable in 

 the idea that in Difflugia there may be an amoeboid state, though there was 

 nothing in the drawings which showed the characters of such special f irms. 

 That certain species of Amoebse had more or less globose or spinous forms 

 was also undoubted ; but these were in structure very distinct from 

 Actinophrys, in which one of the most marked features was the separation of 

 the body into two layers, with rays of a somewhat more dense structure 

 running from the central mass, and giving support to the outer layer. He 

 did not recognize any such indications of complexity in Mr. Beaumont's 

 drawings, and if these were absent, the organisms would not agree with the 

 known characters of Actinophrys. 



Prof. Bell referred, in connection with the paper, to Dr. Bastian's ' The 

 Beginnings of Life.' 



Mr. Hardy said that the second figure reminded him of an observation 

 he once made of an Actinophrys being evolved from what is sometimes called 

 Acineta granclis, which before separation would have a very similar aj)pear- 

 ance to this figure. This aciuetan is developed from amoeboid matter of 

 varying shapes, which, to one not acquainted with their apj)earance, might 

 be mistaken for Amoeba difflue7is. As Arcella and Difflugia may be developed 

 from A. diffluens, the two Amoebse might have been in the same trough, and 

 the three forms are thus accounted for. 



The President thought they were all prepared to admit that a fact must 

 not be in any way disregarded because it was extraordinary, but he was quite 

 convinced, after reading Dr. Bastian's book, that all such matters must be 

 put into the hands of those who were specially skilled in determining the 

 nature of such organisms. When Dr. Bastian's work was first issued, the 

 reviewers considered it a very extraordinary book, and worthy of attention ; 

 but when experts examined the contents in detail, it was shown that the obser- 

 vations relied upon were false, and therefore the conclusions utterly failed. 

 He did not pretend to say that the observations in tlie paper before them 

 were false also ; but he did not think the author could object to the same 

 kind of tests being applied to them. They would be content to wait until 

 next year, when the organisms could again be found, to see whether they 

 were so or not. 



The following Instruments, Objects, &c., were exhibited:— 



Mr. AV. Ball: — Photomicrographs. 



Mr. Bolton : — (Ecistes Janus. 



Mr. Crisp : — (1) Nachet's Bi-ocular Microscope ; (2) Nachet's Tri-ocular 



