3526 Dublin Natural History Society. 



Mr. De la Rue described an instrument constructed by Mr. Peters, for producing 

 minute writing on glass. Specimens of the writing were afterwards exhibited to the 



April 28, 1852. — Geo. Jackson, Esq., President, in the chair. 



R. Shuter Boswell, Esq., the Rev. W. Read, Robt. Ceeley, Esq., Dr. Kingsley, and 

 Jas. Hilton; Esq., were balloted for and duly elected Members of the Society. 



A paper by J. B. Simonds, Esq., " On the occurrence of a Membranous Cell or 

 Cyst upon the Olfactory Nerve of a Horse, containing a large Crystal of Oxalate of 

 Lime," was read. In March last a pupil of the Royal Veterinary College found, on 

 dissecting the brain of a horse, a small transparent cyst, possessing a very bright and 

 glistening appearance, attached to a portion of the olfactory nerve. It was supposed 

 to be a hydatid, but upon examining it under the microscope, with a 2-inch object- 

 glass, a large octahedral crystal of oxalate of lime, with beautifully defined facets, was 

 seen floating freely in a limpid fluid, which distended the walls of the cell. The ex- 

 act size of the crystal was not stated, but it can readily be seen by the unassisted sight. 

 The author concluded with some observations on the frequent occurrence of carbonate 

 of lime in herbivorous animals, and the rarity of the production of oxalates. — /. W. 



Proceedings of the Dublin Natural History Society. 



The usual monthly meeting of this Society was held on Thursday, Professor 

 Allman in the chair. 



The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, the Chair- 

 man called on Mr. J. R. Kinahan for his paper, " Observations on the Spawning of 

 Gasterosteus leiurus, and on the Fishes of the River Dodder." 



" Concerning the manner in which this little fish preserves its spawn, not the slight- 

 est notice, if I may be allowed to judge from the silence of our latest authorities, has 

 been taken by any English naturalist. This is the more strange when we recollect 

 that a habit, analogous in its nature, has been recorded of another species of the same 

 group, whose habitat (the sea) renders it more difficult to make observations thereon, 

 while the species under consideration may be found at every man's door, being, with- 

 out exception, the most extensively distributed of all the British fishes. Yet neither 

 Yarrell in his ' British Fishes,' nor Sir W. Jardine in the ' Naturalists' Library,' makes 

 any mention of this habit, though the latter has recorded the nest-making powers of 

 the marine species to which I alluded just now — G. Spinachia. In France, M. Coste 

 has entered very fully into the matter in a paper read before one of the Societies in 

 Paris in 1847; but as the following observations were made long prior to my having 

 seen his paper, and differ in some respects from the facts recorded by him, and as he 

 has not mentioned the species on which his experiments were made, I thought these 

 observations might not be unworthy a place in your ' Transactions.' In 1846 my at- 

 tention was first called to this curious habit by a friend of mine. I then made a series 

 of observations, most of which I have been able to confirm during each succeeding 



