378 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. [^SnSJmeMff 
Bradford Microscopical Society. 
The ordinary monthly meeting was held on May 12, when a paper 
was read by Mr. Prince on " Drawing from the Microscope." The 
difficulties found by beginners in the use of the camera were explained, 
and some useful hints given as to the best means of keeping the 
pencil-point in sight without losing the object. Attention was called 
to a disguised camera-obscura, which a writer in ' Science-Gossip ' has 
lately proposed, though without a word about the dark chamber which 
that process requires. A very convenient apparatus was described 
and exhibited in use, by means of which the camera can be instantly 
applied to any microscope without altering the position of the instru- 
ment or removing the lamp. 
Birmingham Microscopical Society. 
At a recent meeting of the Birmingham Natural History and 
Microscopical Society, Dr. James Hinds read a paper on the " Micro- 
scopical Structure of the Liver," illustrating his remarks by numerous 
diagrams and by admirably-prepared microscopical objects. He 
entered minutely into the structure of the lobules and the distribution 
of the various blood-vessels, directing especial attention to the several 
views which have been put forward in respect to the commencement 
of the hepatic ducts. 
Among specimens exhibited by members, the following may be 
mentioned : — 
Mr. Bolton, the exquisite Rotifer, Melicerta ringens, " who, not 
content with dwelling, like the Floscules, in a gelatinous bottle, is at 
once brickmaker, mason, and architect, and fabricates as pretty a 
tower as it is easy to conceive ; " j^cisfes crystalUnus, another tube- 
dwelling Eotifer, which, " although less beautiful than the Floscules 
or the Melicerta, is nevertheless a pretty and interesting object ; Vagi- 
nicola valvata, distinguished by the remarkable valve existing in its 
sheath or case ; also, specimens of Epistylis and Stentor. 
Mr. C. Pumphrey, Stephanoceros EicTiornii, perhaps the most beauti- 
ful of all the Eotifers, thus described by Slack, in ' Marvels of Pond 
Life ': — " In this elegant creature, an oval body, somewhat expanded 
at the top, is supported upon a tapering stalk, and stands in a gela- 
tinous case. That which constitutes the glory of this little being is 
a crown of five tapering tentacles, each having two rows of long cilia 
arranged on opposite sides, but not in the same plane. When well 
exhibited, the tentacles have a lustre between glass and pearl ; the 
body, in a favourable position, is like a crystal cup ; and the food, 
usually composed of small red and green globes, glows like emeralds 
and rubies, as if, in the height of luxury, the little epicure had more 
than rivalled Cleopatra's draught, and instead of dissolving, swallowed 
its jewellery whole." 
Mr. Morley contributed : — Pulmonaria officinalis (lung-wort), from 
Elmdon. 
