1076 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



but this had to be proved. If they looked at the slide with a high power 

 they would see that these granules were in motion, and it was very import- 

 ant that the rest of their history should be watched, and this link in the 

 chain supplied. If that could be done, then he thought they had a very 

 important discovery before them. 



Mr. E. M. Nelson said he had very little knowledge of organisms of 

 this class, but if any opinion from a brass-and-glass point of view was of 

 any value, he might say that he was esamining some monads in Scotland a 

 short time ago, and was induced to watch them because they behaved in such 

 a very extraordinary way, and in the course of his observations he saw 

 the very same things take place which Mr. Beaumont had described — one 

 of the organisms shot off its flagella, and then burst exactly in the same way. 



Mr. C. Beck asked if any attempt had been made to isolate these 

 organisms in the same way as had been done in the case of Bacteria ? 



The President said that, as already mentioned, observations exactly 

 corresponding to those made by Mr. Nelson were not at all uncommon if 

 made upon the organisms found in putrefactive fluids, but in order to be of 

 value, they must be correlated. In the case before them it must be re- 

 membered that the claim was made that from a unicellular organism a 

 more complex organism had directly arisen. The subject was very valuable 

 as a basis of work, and no doubt there were some amongst them who would 

 go very heartily into that work when Mr. Beaumont was again in a position 

 to supply them with the material. 



Mr. H- B. Brady's paper, " A Synopsis of the British Eecent Fora- 

 minifera," was communicated to the meeting by Prof. Beli (supra, p. 872). 



The President was sure it would be in full accordance with the feelings 

 of the Fellows to accord their hearty thanks to Mr. Brady for this very 

 valuable contribution to the literature on the subject. A Synopsis of 

 British Foraminifera brought down to date was much required. 



Mr. Crisp said he had been asked to mention to the meeting that 

 Prof. Smith's collection of diatoms was in the hands of Dr. Maddox for 

 disposal on behalf of the widow. 



The President called attention to the Conversazione which had been 

 arranged for the 23rd November, and said that they would no doubt be 

 glad to notice that the usual programme was to be supplemented by an 

 exhibition by Prof. Crookshank in his Bacteriological Laboratory, which 

 would be of the greatest interest. 



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

 Mr. Beaumont : — (1) Life-slide ; (2) Organisms illustrating his paper. 

 Mr. Bolton -.—Nitella sp. ? 



Mr. Crisp : — Martin Microscope with fixed mirror. 

 Mr. Nelson: — (1) Portable Microscope; (2) Photomicrographic Appa- 

 ratus with square Camera ; (3) New Eye-piece ; (4) Achromatic Loupe. 



New Fellows : — The following were elected Ordinary Fellows : — 

 Messrs. A. J. Acheson, Ph.D., M.D., F. T. Andrews, Ph.D., M.D., J. W. 

 Blagg, Edward T. Browne, C. S. Jeaffieson, F.Pt.C.S., Andrew Pringle, and 

 Rev. C. H. Eowley. 



