318 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



Mr. G. Massee's letter was read by Mr. Bennett, descriptive of 

 a slide of tlie germinating spores of Agaricus [Mycena) epipterygius 

 Scop., exhibited under a Microscope in the room. 



" As nothing up to the present is known respecting the germina- 

 tion of spores belonging to the Agaricini, I forward a slide with 

 germinating spores of Agaricus {3Tycena) epipterygius Scop. ; it shows 

 no detail, and is only corroborative of the fact that the spores have 

 been induced to germinate. The accompanying sketch shows suc- 

 cessive stages, drawn from germinating isolated spores of same species. 

 Germination commences after the sj^ores have been about twelve hours 

 in a mixtui'e of glycerine and water. Usually only one thread is 

 given off from the basal (apiculate) end of the spore. This continues 

 to grow for some distance in a straight line, after which lateral 

 branches are given off, ending in slightly swollen tijis, which are 

 filled with granular protoplasm. Earely threads spring from both 

 ends or from the sides of the spores. The spores of Coprinus radiatus 

 Fr. germinate after a few days when placed in dilute liquid manure. 

 The germinating tubes present much the same ajipearance as those 

 described above, only the tendency to form vesicles at the tips of the 

 secondary branches is yet more marked than in Ag. epnpterygius" 



Prof. Bell called the attention of the Meeting to nineteen slides 

 received from the Zoological Station at Naples, the points of which 

 he explained. 



The Chairman congratulated the Meeting upon the communication 

 made by Prof. Bell as being the first breaking of ground by their new 

 Secretary. 



Mr. H. G. Hanks' letter (State Mineralogist of San Francisco) 

 accompanying thirty slides was read by Mr. Crisp. 



Dr. James E.ae's letter, accompanying a slide of diatomaceous 

 deposit from Barbadoes, was read by Mr. Crisp. 



Mr. J. Mayall, junr., exhibited a new polarizing prism, con- 

 structed after the formula devised by Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, 

 D.Sc, by which an angle of 18^^ was obtained, or nearly double that 

 of the ordinary " Nicol " form. He believed it would be found a very 

 practical addition to microscopical apparatus. 



Dr. F. C. Kiaer's letter was read by Mr. Crisp, accompanying three 

 heliotype photomicrographs of mosses, &c. 



" I send a coj^y of my paper, ' Genera Muscorum Macrohymenium 

 et Phegmatodon,' &c., with three heliotype microj^hotographs. The 

 objects are magnified by Nachet's objectives Nos. 1, 3, and 5, from 

 27 to 175 diameters. From the photographic negatives are taken 

 positives, which are put together on the inclosed photograjihic plates, 

 I. 11. and III. ; from these again negatives of the same size as the 



