24 
other occasions, and the result was, that in about one drop 
out of every two I found one, and sometimes two infusoria. 
As the dew did not begin to fall until midnight, they must 
have been produced from the germ between that time and 
6 a.m. 
On the first occasion I saw also what I took to be one or 
two spores of fungi. I supplied the cage with distilled water 
and put it by until the next morning, when I found a perfect 
forest which continued to multiply so long as I supplied it 
with distilled water, which I did for several days. It will 
be interesting to ascertain if infusoria are found under 
similiar conditions in England. 
Some time ago Mr. Ross sent me a binocular body for my 
stand (one of his father’s make). I have in my cabinet the 
tongues (so called) of two house flies, which I had mounted 
some years back. I was always under the impression that 
the divided absorbent tubes were enclosed between the two 
membranes that form the upper and lower surface of the 
two lobes, and I believe that is the general opinion of their 
structure ; now on placing one of these specimens under a 
half-inch glass with the binocular body, I was not a little 
astonished to see the tubes standing out above the surface of 
the membrane on the lower or under part of the tongue. 
I was always at a loss to understand the use of these very 
curious vessels, but it now seems evident that fluids may be 
taken up by them and conveyed to the larger central tube 
into which they all run. It is I presume known that these 
tubes all open on the upper surface of the lobes by the other 
and narrower extremity. 
Mr. Latham read the following communication on Silk- 
producing worms from Natal : — 
In the Natal Herald of the 8th August last, there are 
copies of a correspondence between the Chamber of Com- 
merce of this place, and some gentlemen at Natal, regarding 
