I9I5- 



Irish Societies. 



DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 



May 12. — The Club met at Leinstcr House, D. .M'Akdle (President) 

 in the chair. The officers for 1915-16 were elected : — President, D. 

 M'Ardle ; Vice-President, N. Colgan, M.R.T.A. ; Secretary, Sir Frederick 

 Moore ; Treasurer, W. N. Allen. 



W. F. GuNN showed a type of the well known fungus Sclevotinia sclero- 

 tioriim which attacks the tubers of Jerusalem Artichokes {Helianthiis 

 tuberosiis). The first sign of the presence of the fungus is the appearance 

 of a white mycelium on the surface of the tubers which rapidly spreads 

 from one to another, and if not detected soon permeates the contents of 

 a whole sackful. Very shortly the large black sclerotia form here and 

 there over the tubers, which by this time have become a soft decayed 

 mass. These sclerotia function as resting spores, survive the \\inter, 

 and in the spring of the following year, germinate and give rise to an 

 ascomycetous form of fruit, the spores of which germinate and again 

 start the life cycle of the fungus. 



Prof. G. H. Carpenter showed specimens of Braula caeca, a bee -parasite 

 which belongs to the pupiparous division of the Diptera. The specimens, 

 lately forwarded from Carlingford by Mr. Harvey, are the first to be re- 

 corded from any Irish locality. Possibly they may have been introduced 

 from Italy where Braula is said to be abundant. The parasite is wingless 

 and remarkable on account of its large size in proportion to that of its 

 host. 



It was decided to hold the annual excursion on June 19th, Bohcrnabreena 

 and Glenasmoill being chosen as the locaHty, but instead of having the 

 usual club dinner in the evening to make a collection among the members 

 for the benefit of Irish prisoners of war in Germany. 



DUBLIN NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 



April 20. — N. Colgan (President) in the chair. Prof. G. H. Carpenter 

 gave a lantern lecture on " Recent Advances in Knowledge of the Life- 

 history of Warble -flies." A historical survey of the progress of investiga- 

 tion into the transformations of the insects was given from the work of 

 De Reaumur and Bracy Clark in the eighteenth century to the present 

 day. These old-time observers had made out the principal facts with 

 regard to the later larval and pupal stages ; during recent times interest 

 has been concentrated on the place and method of egg-la^dng, and the 

 means by which the newly-hatched larva enters the ox's body — whether 

 by the mouth or through the skin. The experiments and observations 

 bearing on these questions which have lately been made in Ireland were 

 described and illustrated by a set of photographic lantern slides. The 

 main results of these enquiries were published in the Irish Naturalist 

 last year (vol. xxiii,, p. 214). Prof. Carpenter stated that the muzzling 

 experiments of 1914-15 had so far fully confirmed the conclusions drawn 

 from former years' work that there is no effective infection by way of 

 the mouth. The President, J. N. Halbert, and H. Dunlop took part 

 in the discussion. 



