The Presidenfs Address. 
19 
The President then delivered the following Address : 
The Presidejjt's Address /or the year 1865. 
By C. Brooke, Esq., M.A., F.R.S. 
Gentlemen, — I cannot but regret to remark that during 
the past year the papers communicated to our Society have 
been less numerous than usual, though by no means wanting 
in either novelty or interest. 
Dr. B. K. Greville, to whom the Society is so largely 
indebted for the laborious investigation of the Diatomacese, 
has contributed three papers (series xii, xiii, & xiv). A large 
number of the new species described belong to the genus 
Triceratinm. It appears to me that it would be a point of 
much interest to determine whether some of the quadrangular 
forms, to which the term ^Hceratium is by courtesy applied, 
are merely accidental varieties of form, or whether they 
present specific, or even generic differences ; the determina- 
tion of this question is impossible nntil we are fortunate in 
being able to appeal to the growth and development of living, 
or at all events recent, forms. Several species of a new 
genus, Creswellia, are described by Dr. Greville, in which 
the frustules are connected by long processes. Mr. H. S. 
Lander has given a description of Marine Diatoms found at 
Hong Kong : these chiefly belong to the curious tribe 
Choetoceros. 
Our ' Transactions ' are again enriched by an important 
paper by Dr. Beale, " On the Structure and Formation 
of Striped Muscle ; and on the Exact Relation of Nerves, 
Vessels, and Air-tubes (in the case of insects) to the Contrac- 
tile Tissue of Muscle." This paper further illustrates the 
advantages derived from the admirable methods of prepa- 
ration, which Dr. Beale has elsewhere fully detailed,"^ when 
the objects are submitted to the high magnifying powers which 
we can now employ in the investigation of minute structure. 
The facts observed, and the inferences drawn from them, differ 
from those propounded by KoUiker, Kiihne, and other 
continental observers, mainly because greater optical power 
(by which I do not mean mere enlargement), combined with 
improved methods of preparation, has developed many points 
of structure, which have hitherto remained beyond the 
reach of visual power, and the existence of which was 
therefore unknown. It has, I believe, been suggested that 
* *How to Work with the Microscope, Third Edition, p. 205, et seq. 
