485 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 
MEETING 
Held on the 17th of June, 1896, at 20 Hanover Squaee, W., 
the Rev. Edmund Caeb, M.A., Vice-President, in the Chair. 
The Minutes of the Meeting of 20th May, 1896, were read and 
confirmed, and were signed by the Chairman. 
Surgeon V. Gunson Thorpe, R.N., exhibited a number of slides of 
Rotifera, prepared by Mr. Rousselet’s method, which he had collected 
in China, Ceylon, Australia, Japan, and the Solomon Islands. Amongst 
these were specimens of MegalotrocJia spinosa and semibullata from 
China, Ceylon, and Queensland ; Pedalion fennicum from the Solomon 
Islands ; Brachionus polycerus from Colombo, Ceylon ; and Floscularia 
tenuilobata , which Dr. Hudson, judging from some mutilated specimens, 
thought was a variety of F. coronetta ; he hoped, however, to be able to 
prove to the Fellows who were interested in the subject that this had a 
specific value. It seemed to him that the class was essentially a conti- 
nental one, and that on islands rotifers generally were comparatively 
rare. China simply swarmed with them, and seemed everywhere to 
teem with forms which were quite unknown in other countries, whilst 
Japan, on the other hand, had very few. The great island continent of 
Australia certainly had some more, but not nearly so many as China. 
Mr. C. F. Rousselet said he had not yet had any opportunity of 
examining these specimens, but he hoped Mr. Gunson Thorpe would be 
able to give them a paper descriptive of them. It was very valuable to 
be able to exhibit specimens from these distant parts in so satisfactory a 
manner. 
Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell was sure the Fellows of the Society would be 
glad to see Surgeon Gunson Thorpe amongst them again, and would 
congratulate him upon his safe return. Mr. Rousselet had, however, 
been too modest to mention that he had himself had a considerable share 
in bringing back Mr. Thorpe’s rotifers, through his method of pre- 
paration,. so many examples of which he had exhibited to the Society. 
The case was comparable to that of caterpillars, which used at one 
time only to reach us in a very unsatisfactory condition in spirit, until 
Lord Walsingham taught people how to preserve them in the admirable 
manner so well shown in his collection at the National Museum ; one 
result of this was that a friend of his, a missionary, had sent home a 
very fine collection of caterpillars from North India preserved in the 
same way. These methods were of universal application, so that whilst 
Mr. Rousselet made the beautiful slides and preparations at home which 
had so much delighted his friends here, the publication of the details 
of his methods had enabled others to do the same in distant places, and 
to bring home specimens in the way Mr. Gunson Thorpe had done, so as 
1896 2 L 
