4070 Society of British Entomologists. 



Mr. Harrison regarded them as animals, and quoted the opinion of Prof. Bailey, of 

 New York. Prof. Balfour referred to their resemblance to Desmidieoe, and the conju- 

 gation observed amongst them, as conclusive proofs of their relation to the Conferva?, 

 whose vegetable nature no one doubted. Dr. Lankester referred to Schleiden's objec- 

 tion, of their possessing a highly complicated structure, and pointed out their resem- 

 blance to the Foraminifera, which all agreed to be animals. It had, however, been 

 asserted that the Diatomaceae possessed starch, and as yet this had not been discovered 

 as a secreted product in beings recognized as truly animals, whilst starch was univer- 

 sally present in true vegetable productions. 



" On the Structure of Bursaria, a genus of Infusorial Animalcules," by Prof. Allman. 



" On the Nature of Ciliary Motion," by P. Duncan. The author detailed what 

 had been done by English observers on this subject, and came to the conclusion that 

 the cause of the bending and returning of the cilium resided in the cell-wall of the 

 cell which sustains the cilia, and that to a greater or less extent the whole of the cell- 

 wall is contractile. 



Prof. Allman and Dr. Kedfern observed that the view taken by the author was un- 

 doubtedly correct, and had been recently fully developed by Continental physiologists. 



" On a Species of Priapulus, a Genus of Echinoderms belonging to the Family 

 Sipunculidas," by Prof. J. Phillips. This genus was but little known to British natu- 

 ralists, and from the descriptions he was inclined, to doubt if the present species, which 

 was taken off the coast of Scarborough, was identical with that described by Prof. E. 

 Forbes in his work on British Starfishes. 



" On the Structure of the Fresh-water Polyp (Hydra viridis)?' by Prof. Allman. 

 It had been stated by Ecker and Kolliker that these creatures possessed no cells, but 

 were composed of a mass of granules between which occasional vacuolar occurred. He 

 had succeeded in observing that the whole of the structure of the Hydra was cellular, 

 and no exception to the general law that regulated the existence of organic beings. 



Dr. Lankester exhibited a series of drawings of the British fresh-water polyps, exe- 

 cuted by Prof. Allman, which he stated were intended to illustrate a work on this sub- 

 ject to be published by the Ray Society. Among these were several new species, and 

 he especially called attention to one of these, which seemed to be an exception to the 

 general law that the polypidom of the polyp-bearing animals is fixed. In this case the 

 polyp-stalk possessed the power of moving, as well as each individual member of the 

 mass. — From the * Athenaum] September 17, 1853. 



Proceedings of the Society of British Entomologists. 



August 2, 1853. — Mr. Harding, President, in the chair. 



Mr. Miller was elected a Subscriber to the Society. 



Mr. Harding exhibited a box of insects taken at Darenth Wood during the past 

 month : among the Lepidoptera were Ceropacha fluctuosa, Heliothis marginata, &c, 

 and the Coleoptera comprised Leptura sex-guttata, Cryptocephalus Coryli, Pachyta 

 collaris, ^c. 



Mr. Harding said he took a strange-looking pupa in April, from the trunk of a 

 holly, from which he had bred Cryptocephalus flavilabris. 



