13 
ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION. 
February 13. — Mr. Stephen Barton, President of the section, in 
the chair. 
Mr. Barber exhibited a pair of Hydroporus Neglectus, a new and 
undeseribed Coleopterous insect, taken by Br. Power (corresponding 
member) ; also Ceuthorychus biguttatus, a very rare species, captured by 
Dr. Power in South Devon. 
Mr. J. W. Clarke exhibited a case containing some fine species from 
India, and the West Coast of Africa. 
It was agreed to continue taking in the ^Entomological Magazine, and to 
bind the volumes, retaining them for reference as the property of the 
section. 
A proposition was made to institute a weekly evening meeting for 
collecting, during the summer months, and after some discussion, the 
settlement of the subject was deferred until the March meeting. 
BOTANICAL SECTION. 
February 15. — Mr. A. Leipner, President of the section, in the 
chair. 
The attendance of members was not very numerous, and the whole of 
the evening was devoted to the mounting and preparation of specimens for 
the society's herbarium, no papers or other business being brought forward. 
CHEMICAL AND PHOTOGRAPHIC SECTION. 
February 15 (postponed from Feb. 14). — Mr. P. J. Worsley, B.A., 
F.C.S., President of the section, in the chair. 
Mr. J. R. Rogers introduced a discussion upon specific heat. After 
some preliminary remarks upon the varying capacity of bodies for heat, 
and the meaning of the term specific heat, he raised the question 
whether there was any relation between the specific heats and atomic 
volumes of bodies, and pointed out that with many gases, if the numbers 
representing their specific heats, equal volumes being compared, were 
divided by the numbers representing their specific heats, equal weights 
being compared, the quotient was either the atomic weight of the sub- 
stance, or bore a simple relation to it. Mr. Rogers then suggested as a 
possible theory of the constitution of matter the hypothesis that the ulti- 
mate atoms of bodies were hollow spheres, with heat contained in them, 
and that the capacity for heat of the substance depended upon the thick- 
ness of the films of these hollow spheres. 
A short discussion ensued, during which Mr. Beattie, Mr. Noble, Mr. 
Carpenter, and the President, addressed the meeting. 
Mr. W. L. Carpenter then exhibited and explained an adaptation of 
the spectroscope to the microscope, first suggested by Mr, Sorby, with 
