PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 
539 
Mr. J. J. Harvey described a method of mounting Foraminifera so 
that they could be moved in all directions whilst under examination. 
Specimens in illustration were exhibited. 
Mr. T. Comber read a paper “ On the Unreliability of certain 
Characters generally accepted for Specific Diagnosis in the Diatom- 
ace®.” 
The Chairman said that, when, through the kindness of their Secre- 
tary, the paper which they had just heard was placed in his hands for 
perusal, it seemed to him undoubtedly one which it was eminently desir- 
able to publish as a corrective to the tendency to the excessive multipli- 
cation of species which was so vast and growing an evil in every branch 
of natural history. The question of polymorphism was one of great 
importance in this connection. In the highest classes of plants they 
had polymorphism in the leaves ; in the early stages of some of the 
common Conifers for instance, the structure of the leaves was extremely 
different from the later growths; whilst in the Fungi and the Alg® 
questions continually arose as to whether organisms which appeared to 
be totally different from each other, were not after all the same things 
in different stages ; and the lower they went down in the scale, the more 
they found themselves confronted with these problems. He had lately 
been reading a paper in the Gomptes Bendus in which similar points 
had been raised as to the Diatomacese, based upon observations made by 
the author in Auvergne, in the course of which he mentioned that those 
found at a great depth in the lake varied from those of the same species 
near the surface in exhibiting a diminished number of striae ; and he 
remembered that specimens found at great heights in the Jura had 
also a diminished number of striae. The subject was certainly one which 
was well worthy of further consideration. He could not refrain from 
referring to the very great loss they had sustained by the death of their 
late colleague Mr. C. Haughton Gill, who was carrying out investiga- 
tions of this kind in a manner which gave great promise of valuable 
results. He only hoped that Mr. Comber and others might be able to 
continue the work which had been so prematurely closed. 
Prof. Bell, speaking as a zoologist, had been greatly surprised to 
note that, although they had so often been informed that botanists had 
arrived at a pitch of perfection which zoologists were far from having 
reached, the two chief cases quoted as examples were drawn from the 
kingdom of zoology. There was, as was well known, a general tendency 
to regard variations as new species, but experience was showing them 
that the more complete their collections became the more need they 
showed for caution and reflection in this respect. With regard to birds 
the Americans had taken up the question, and recognizing the varia- 
tions which occurred in different regions of their continent, had ad- 
opted the plan of indicating these by giving a third, sub-specific, name. 
Lord Walsingham had called attention to the variations in Lepido- 
ptera from different districts, and the magnificent gift by Mr. Hume 
to the British Museum of 80,000 birds from India showed very clearly 
how one species of bird varied in different parts of the peninsula. They 
were all of them subject at times to the temptation to make new species, 
for when they received things from abroad which were quite unlike 
