t905. 



p70ceedi7igs of Iris J i Societies. 



67 



may spread from a diseased tuber to an apparentl}' healthy one, so that 

 the diseased tubers should be removed as early as possible, and only un- 

 damaged tubers selected for seed purposes. 



J. A. CiyARKE showed a transverse section through the pharyngeal 

 region of Amphioxus showing the excretary tubules of Boveri and 

 Weiss. 



D. M'Ardle showed remarkably well-developed specimens of 

 Splachnian atnpiiUaceum, L., which he collected at CoUooney, Co. Sligo, in 

 July last, on the excrement of cattle, and on the ground among moist 

 rocks. Under the microscope were exhibited the male flowers and the 

 curious fruit, w4th a convex lid and a peristome of 16 teeth, in pairs, of 

 a pale yellow colour. The capsule is short and cylindrical, with the 

 highly-coloured, swollen apophysis at the base, which gives the form, 

 which the name suggests, of a Roman ampulla, which tapers into the 

 brilliant red-coloured seta nearly two inches long. 



BELFAST NATURAL HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 

 SOCIETY. 



February 7. — W. H. Patterson, M.R.I. A., in the chair. Professor 

 Gregg Wii^son, D.Sc, gave a lecture on "The Work of the Ulster 

 Fisheries Association." Dr. Wilson said the ordinary work of the 

 Association was largely carried on by means of the dredge and tow-net. 

 The results of the work of the Association had been many. In the first 

 place, the waters of the Larne district had been sub-divided into areas, 

 and records ot all animals found in these had been kept. They were thus 

 gradually getting an idea not only of all the local animals, but of their 

 associations. In the course of this work a considerable number of species 

 not known previously as Irish had been met with, and a few of these had 

 been recorded in the Irish Naturalist. Further, in connection with the 

 local work it had been found necessary to prepare lists of all known Irish 

 species of some groups, and several such lists had been compiled. One 

 of them— a list of the Copepoda of Ireland, by Mr, Joseph Pearson — was 

 now in the printer's hands, and would be published by the Fisheries 

 Branch of the Department of Agriculture. This list would be of great 

 use as showing in handy form the results of all previous work at Irish 

 Copepods, besides recording new species obtained by Mr. Pearson. The 

 group was one of the most important for the marine biologist, as mem- 

 bers of it were largely fed on by fishes. Besides their lists of marine 

 animals they had now a list of the sea-weeds of Ulster, prepared by a 

 Dublin visitor to their laboratory — Mr. J. Adams. A totally different but 

 equally important kind of w^ork had been carried on by Mr. C. M. 

 Cunningham, who had undertaken the investigation of the drift of our 

 waters by means of bottles containing postcards. From such work very 

 definite results had already been obtained, and these would soon be pub- 

 lished. The facts were important in connection with the drift of float- 

 ing eggs of fishes, as well as with reference to the movements of minute 



