The his h Naturalist, 
March, 
DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 
January io. — The Club met at Leiiister House. 
Dr. R. F. SCHARFF exhibited a piece of cloth which he had obtained 
in a bog in Co. Antrim, along with a number of interesting liu man 
implements. He thought the cloth was manufactured from horse hair, 
but had not been able to identify it with certainty. 
J. N. Hai,BERT exhibited a fresh-water mite, Laminipes bullata, Sig. 
Thor, not previously recorded from the British Isles. A single speci- 
men was found in a pool by the side of Lough Leane, Killarney. The 
species was quite recently described by Sig. Thor from Scandinavian 
specimens {Anhiv.fUr Math, og Naturv., vol. xxi.) 
Dr. G. H. Pkthybridge exhibited two species ot wild yeast or torula, 
which he had isolated from "blown" tins of condensed milk. These 
yeasts are capable of fermenting saturated solutions of cane sugar, pro- 
vided the other substances necessary for their nutrition are present. 
By their action on the cane sugar, which exists as a saturated solution 
in the tins of condensed milk, and is added during the process of manu- 
facture, a strong accumulation of gas occurs, so that the ends of the 
tin become bulged outwards, and the tins are said to be " blown." The 
two species exhibited had both been proved by experiment to be 
capable of blowing tins of condensed milk. A full account has been 
published in the Econ. Froc. Roy. Dttb. Soc, vol. i., part 7, 1906. 
W. F. GUNN showed seeds of Nemcsia strumosa conipacta, and drew 
attention to the wing-like appendage with which it is provided. A 
beautiful network projection runs round the periphery of the seed 
(which is flatly spherical in shape), and, no doubt, aids in its distribution 
by wind when the seed is mature. 
BELFAST NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 
January 3.— Robert Patterson (Vice-President) in the chair. 
Ai.e;xandisr Mii.i.iGan read a comprehensive paper on "Prehistoric 
Man." The paper was discussed by Mrs. Hobson, W. Gray, R. Bell, and 
G. Donaldson, and the chairman. 
January io.— Geoi^ogicai. Skction.— G. C. Gough in the chair. J. 
Strachan read a paper on " The Origin of the Carnnioney Chalcedony." 
The mineral occurs in veins traversing the denuded plug of a Tertiary 
volcano. The vein-sides are coated with three layers— first a layer of 
"Hullite," next a layer of calcium carbonate and zeolites, aud finally a 
layer of chalcedony, often filling the centre of the vein. The reader tried 
to show from both chemical and geological points of view that the 
chalcedony and portions of the calcite or zeolitic layer had been deposited 
by hydrothermal action, as the volcano died out. 
January 16.— W. H. Phillips (President) in the cliair. Madame 
Christen contributed " A Summary of the Club's recent Glacial Work." 
