"jou^nTilnSy M^^^ PEOCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 61 
as Dr. Wallich liad stated, was limited to the warm area, and not 
found where the Arctic currents prevailed. This protaplasmic mud 
extended widely north-west of Shetland, and was dredged up 200 miles 
from Ireland, at 650 fathoms' depth. In the sounding apparatus, 
the sand brought up was almost entirely composed of globigerinae. 
It seemed as if, when the temperature was warm, animal life might 
be carried by gradual subsidence of the sea bed to almost any depth— 
a conclusion which, however, was not novel, as it had been previously 
advanced by Dr. Wallich. Thus Edward Forbes's theory, that life 
was a function of depth, and stopped altogether at 300 fathoms, was 
completely overthrown. 
Many forms of Foraminifera, which were supposed only to attain a 
large size in tropical seas, were discovered in this expedition, from 
which it appeared that they were not dwarfed by great depths, as had 
been supposed, but could grow to large size under such conditions if 
the temperature was not too cold. Many sandy Foraminiferee were met 
with quite unprecedented in size, and among them large single- 
chambered species, with stellar prolongations, some triradiate, some 
tetraradiate, occasionally with the branches in a rudimentary state, 
and all exhibiting a symmetry quite remarkable when we consider the 
low type of animals by which they were formed. 
Some cells composed of sand grains, when broken, exhibited 
objects like ova or yellow spherules, resulting from the division of a 
sarcodic mass into zoospores. 
The following gentlemen have been duly elected Fellows of the 
Boyal Microscopical Society : — 
June 10th, 1868. — Edward Davy Harrop, Esq. ; Josh. Eussell, 
Esq. ; EoBT. Luke Howard, Esq. 
October litJi. — James Parkinson, L.D.S. ; Henry Lawson, M.D. 
November lltJi. — James Eoy Eddy, Esq. ; E. W. Wild, Esq. 
December 9th. — Francis Codd, Esq. ; Henry King, Esq. 
Walter W. Eeeves, 
King's College, Dec-. 10, 1868. Assistant Secretary. 
High Wycombe Natural History Society. 
The first Conversazione of this Society was held on the 24th of 
November, at the house of the President, the Eev. T. H. Browne, 
F.G.S., and was largely attended. The President delivered an inte- 
resting address, which, however, more immediately concerned general 
natural history than microscopy. The Secretary read an important 
paper on " Plant Names," and the evening concluded with an exhibi- 
tion of microscopic objects, among which were the saw of the saw-fly, 
the oil-glands of the leaf of origanum onites, and the tongue of 
mollusks. 
