1905. 



35 



IRISH SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Recent gifts include a Cream Bull from H.M. the King, a Badger from 

 Major J. W. Blackwood Price, a Banded Parrakeet from Lady Constance 

 Butler, and four Rabbits from Mr. Crowe. Mr. T. Smith, of Newry, has 

 kindly given a hundred evergreen plants, to be placed among the haw- 

 thorn bushes on the far side of the lake. A young Seal, caught by 

 fishermen at Bray, has been acquired for the gardens, and placed in the 

 pond already inhabited by the well-known Sea-lion. 



DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 



December 17. — The Club met at Leinster House. 



Dr. SCHARFF showed a microscopic preparation of Ctemdtilus parvulusy 

 Scharff, and explained the general structure of this primitive marine 

 worm, and its peculiar mode of fissiparous reproduction. 



W. F. GuNN showed carpellary hairs from the fruit of the common 

 Dog-rose, Rosa canina. Mounted in Canada balsam, and viewed under 

 polarized light, they provide an extremely beautiful object. 



D. M'Ardi.E exhibited Ulota phyllantha, Brid, a very interesting moss, 

 which he collected last July on rocks at Raghley, Co. Sligo. It is more 

 frequently found on trees, and grows in neat clusters on the stem, and 

 often at the tips of the branches. It is rarely seen in fruit ; it has been 

 reported that a few capsules were once found on Killarney specimens. 

 How then are we to account for its wide distribution ? It is found near 

 sea level, and at high elevations in Ireland, as at Glencar, &c., higher 

 still on the Northumberland coast, and at the highest limit of vegetation 

 on Chimborazo, in S. America. In the absence of spores reproduction 

 takes place b}- adventitious budding ; articulated gemmae are produced 

 near the apex of the leaves, especially the upper ones (these were shown 

 under the microscope), when fully formed they drop off and, under 

 favourable circumstances, produce protonema, from which new plants 

 grow ; these may possibly bear fruit, and shed their spores, and so com- 

 plete a second cycle in the life history. 



J. N. Hai^bERT exhibited a water-mite, Arrhennrtis ornatus, George, 

 found in pools at Toome, Co. Antrim, and in the river Corrib, near 

 Galway. The species was first described a few years ago {Science Gossip, 

 vol. vii., n.s. 1900, p. 204) from specimens found in England. Although 

 a distinct and easily recognised species it has not been discovered in any 

 locality out of the British Isles. 



