199 
were exhibited to the meeting by polarised light, they 
are quite equal to Salicin in intensity of colour, and do 
not require the aid of a selenite stage. I hey foiin a wel- 
come addition to the list of polarising objects. 
Mr. Danger also exhibited specimens ol the “ V enus s 
Flower-basket,” the Euplectella aspergillum ol Owen. The 
skeleton of this animal is composed of silex, and, being trans- 
parent, forms a beautiful object under the microscope, having 
the appearance of spun glass; the delicate hairs at the base are 
also siliceous, and many of them are barbed. These singu- 
lar marine productions have been obtained in some quantity 
from Cebu, one of the Phillipine Islands; they are dredged 
up from the depth of 130 to 135 fathoms. An interesting 
account of the method employed by the natives in collect- 
ing the Euplectelhe will be found in 'the Magazine of 
Natural History for March, 1869. 
“ On a Deposit in Dog’s Bay, Connemara, destitute of 
Foraminifera,” by Mr. Charles Bailey. 
In distributing some foramiriiferous sand collected in 
Dog’s Bay in August last, Mr. Charles Bailey drew atten- 
tion to a small creek in the southern shore of the bay, which, 
from its being well protected by its rocky sides, he expected 
would yield a rich deposit of foraminifera. On a minute 
examination, however, of the materials composing its beach, 
there was a singular absence of foraminifera, scarcely a single 
example of these creatures being discoverable. The beach was 
uniform in character from low water to high water mark, and 
was for the most part made up of fragments of molluscous 
shells mixed with coarse grains of sand. This deposit is the 
more remarkable from the contrast it presents to the rest of 
the beaches in the neighbourhood, those of Dog’s Bay and 
Gorteen Bay being made up of considerably finer materials 
and abounding in foraminifera; further, the most perfect 
