BEISTOL NATURALISTS' SOCIETY 
SECTIONAL MEETINGS. 
From the Bristol Daily Post of May 2Uh, 1865. 
Entomological Section, April 24th,— Tbe first ex- 
cursion meeting: of the season was held, and the members 
visited Leigh Woods, by permission of Sir William Miles. 
J Although the weather was favourable, do rare species were 
taken— nor, indeed, anything worth recording. 
! Botanical Section, April 26th.— The first botanical 
walk of the season took place, under the direction of the 
j president, Mr. A. Leipner, to St. Ann's Wood, near Bris- 
hugton. Oq the slope leading into the valley the pale 
flowers of Cardamine pratensis were plentifully scattered, 
I intermixed with the solitary white perianths of Anemone 
inemorosa. The tall red stems and pale green umbels of 
{Euphorbia amygdaloides showed conspicuously in company 
! with the handsome flowers of Steliaria holostea, and occa- 
laionally an unrolled sheath of Arum maculatum disclosed its 
curious spadix. Luzula sylvatica and L. pilosa were also 
scattered about, and later in the course of the walk was 
found an abundance of L. campestris. On the bank by the 
side of the footpath near the brook Oxalis acetosella, Adoxa 
moschatellina, and Orobus tuberosus were picked ; 
Fragaria vesca was also seen, though Putentilla 
fragariostrum, a plant somewhat resemblirg it, was 
much more plentiful. Hyacinthus non-scriptus was found 
in beds of several hundred plants, and on the open 
ground Lamium album was very abundant, far more so than 
its archangelic brother Galeobdolon luteum. On the surface 
of the water were seen the wrinkled leaves of Potamogeton 
crispus not yet in flower, and on the open waste land near 
St, Ann's, Sisymbrium thalianum, as well as a few patches 
I of the small chameleon-like Myosotis versicolor, and later 
in the day Sarothamnus scoparius was picked. 
Zoological Section, May 1. — Dr. Henry Fripp, 
president, in the chair. At this, the last evening meeting 
of the season, Dr. Fripp exhibited a series of microscopic 
preparations, illustrating his paper, the introductory portion 
of which had been read at the April general meeting of the 
society, on the structure of the eye in the Cephalopod 
Molluscs, and he pointed out the several variations of 
structure which distinguish this organ from the vertebrate 
eye. The change in character of the dermal covering in 
front of the lens was first noticed, and the simplification of 
histological elements, as well as the general assimilation of 
structure and character to that of the cornea in Vertebrata, 
was demonstrated by preparations. The arrangement of 
the compound crystalline leas was next explained, while its 
attachment to the sclerotic coat, and in particular to a thick 
ring of ciliary muscle, by means of peculiar forms of fibrous 
and cartilaginous tissues, was du-elt on at some, length, the 
anatomical relations being found in this part to be extremely 
complicated. Lastly, the structure of the remaining parts of 
the sclerotic was shown, as also the manner in which bundles 
of opticnervetibres passed through its perforated cartilaginous 
! portions at the back of the globe. The presence of a cushion of 
coarse fibrous tissue developed by growth of small nucleated 
cells from the surface of the sclerotic was pointed out, which 
was shown to line the perforated channels of the sclerotic 
through which the optic bundles pass to tbe inside of the 
