5956 



Dublin Association, 



Mr. Greenin<i^ observed that he had adopted the President's plan of airanj^einent 

 in his recent re-arrangement of the insects in ihe Warrington Museum, to which 

 institution he is Honorary Curator. — C. S. G. 



Dublin University Zoological and Botanical Association. 



December 18, 1857.— W. H. Harvey, M.D., F.L.S., V.P., in the chair. 



Dr. M'Donnel read a very elaborate and interesting paper on " The Electric 

 Powers of the Actiniadae." The species wliich the author found to develope most 

 electricity was the common smooth anemone {Actinia Mesemhryanthemum) of our 

 coasts; the galvanascope used was tbe lumbar nerves of the common frog, and the 

 experiments were conducted with the greatest care. The lumbar vertebrae were care- 

 fully detached from the pelvis, which with the limbs were placed on a piece of board 

 floating on the surface of the water, the vertebrae being allowed to hang over the edge. 

 On these being seized by the anemone the legs of the frog were immediately con- 

 vulsed. 



A prolonged discussion on this important paper followed. 



Mr. Edwin Birchall read some " Notes on Additions to the Irish Lepidoptera," 

 chiefly taken by himself and Mr. A. G. More in the West of Ireland. These addi- 

 tions, thirty-eight in number, were supplemental to the Rev. Joseph Greene's * Cata- 

 logue of Irish Lepidoptera, published, some three years since, in the 'Proceedings' of 

 the Association. Mr. Birchall exhibited specimens of all the insects enumerated. 



The Chairman expressed his opinion of the importance of thus working out our 

 native Fauna, and of the utility that could not but result from having all these addi- 

 tions carefully recorded. 



Professor Kinahan read a paper by W. Spence Bate, F.L.S., " On a new British 

 HippolUe." This prawn had been taken in Moray Firth by the Rev. George Gordon, 

 and had been named by Mr. Spence Bate, H. Gordonii, after its discoverer. 



The Rev. Joseph Greene exhibited a fine pair of that very rare moth Deilephila 

 Galii, and a specimen of a hybrid between Smerinthus Populi and S. ocellatus. 



The Rev. Professor Hau<;hton exhibited a unique specimen of Euomphalus crista- 

 tus, from the University Geological Museum ; also a lithograph of it, executed by Mr. 

 Campbell. 



J. R. Greene, Professor of Natural History, Queen's College, Cork, read a paper 

 on the present state of our knowledge of the Caelenterata. The author began by 

 alluding to the various changes which have taken place in the classification of the 

 Radiata, and its subdivision into two distinct departments, for one of which the term 

 Caelenterata had been proposed. He next noticed the various structural modifications 

 which these animals present, as shown in the arrangement of the digestive system, the 

 mode of secretion and appearances of the stinging filaments, the form and position of 

 their locomotive organs, &c. He next gave an account of the numerous discoveries 

 which had recently been made in their development, both by British and continental 

 naturalists, illustrating his remarks by a series of diagrams representing some of the 

 most remarkable phases which these forms exhibit, special allusion being made to the 

 reproductive functions as performed in Hydra, Tubularia, Cordylophora, Clava, Eu- 

 dendrium, Hydractinia, Sertularia, ike. ; the production of the so-called Medusoids, 



