132 
The Irish Naturalist 
May, 
IRISH SOCIETIES. 
ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
Recent gifts include a Silver Pheasant from Mr. C. G. Townsend, and a 
pair of Arctic Knots from Mr. H. B. Rathborne. Two Sooty Monkeys, 
two Yellow Baboons, three Mnngooses, and two vShetland Sheep have 
been purchased ; also three Penguins, which have been placed in the lake. 
A Black-striped Wallaby has been born in the Gardens. 
The alterations to the Monkey House are in progress. When finished, 
there will be proper accommodation for Anthropoids, to whose quarters 
sufficient air and sun does not penetrate under existing conditions. A 
house for small Mammals is also being erected, which will lessen the 
crowding of various species in the present Monkey House. 
DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 
March 14.— The Club met at Leinster House. Dr. R. F. Scharff 
(President), in the chair. 
Dr. G. H. PethybridgE exhibited a section of a tomato fruit showing 
parasitic bacteria in situ in the cells. This form of tomato disease is 
characterised by the appearance and gradual spreading of a black spot at 
the stigmatic end of the fruit. The disease was first recorded from the 
north of France in 1895 by Prillieux, and was proved by him to be due to 
bacteria. It is known in America, has been noticed in a few localities in 
England, and last summer came into the exhibitor's hands for the 
first time for an Irish locality (Co. Cork). 
W. F. GuNN showed seeds of Arctotis grandis, a composite recently in- 
troduced from the Cape. The achenes are crowned with a pappus of 
membranous scales, and from the base of the fruit a dense tuft of hairs 
proceeds, which are reversed and point in the same direction as the 
coronal scales. 
F. W. Moore exhibited a section of the flower of Sarmienta repens, a 
scarce little creeping plant from Chili, belonging to the order Ges- 
neriaceae. The flower is bright red in colour, and the corolla is covered 
with little glandular hairs. The section showed the colouring matter 
extending into these hairs to the base of the round glandular head. 
Prof. G. H. Carpenter showed specimens of a new species of 
Halobates found by Prof. W. A. Herdman on the coast of Ceylon. 
Special attention was drawn to the structure of the ovipositor in the 
female, and to a " comb and file" arrangement on the foreleg in both 
sexes, which appears to be a stridulatmg organ. An account of the 
insect will shortly be published by the Royal Society in the Supple- 
mentary Reports on the Ceylon Pearl Oyster Fisheries. 
