PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 
55' 
with the adjustable substage. His son recognized the error the moment 
ii was mentioned, and at once removed the mirror to a separate sliding- 
piece. 
The President said they were favoured by the presence of Dr. J. E. 
Talmage, of Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A., a recently elected Fellow, 
who bad not only made a special effort to attend the meeting, but had 
also brought and exhibited some specimens of organic life found in the 
Great Salt Lake, which he would describe. 
Dr. Talmage having expressed his thanks to the President for the 
kind way in which he had introduced him, and also to the Fellows of 
the Society for the cordiality of their reception, said that he left Salt 
Lake City rather hurriedly in order to avail himself of the opportunity 
of being present at the meeting. On this account he had not brought 
over as many specimens as he could have desired, but he had placed 
under some Microscopes in the room several examples of the brine 
shrimp, Artemia fertilis , from the Great Salt Lake, which he thought 
might prove of some interest. He found these objects rather difficult to 
mount for permanent observation. It was, for instance, almost useless 
to use glycerin, because it rendered the structure indistinct by trans- 
parency. He had at present discovered no way better than by putting 
them into some of the lake water with a 5 per cent, solution of alum. The 
structure was also so very delicate that it was very difficult to spread 
them out upon a slide, but by the use of the medium named the creature 
could be transferred to the slide and it spread itself out as it died. In 
addition to slides of these shrimps, prepared in the manner described, 
he also exhibited specimens of the calcareous sand from the lake shore. 
Dr. Talmage, speaking of the occurrence of life in the Great Salt 
Lake, said it would seem to be a difficult task to determine the mean 
composition of the lake. An examination of the water by Dr. Gale, 
forty years ago, showed the solid contents to be 22 * 282 per cent., and 
the density 1*17. In 1869 Mr. Allen reported the water as containing 
14*9934 per cent, solids. He (Dr. Talmage) had analysed the water 
in December 1885, and found 16*7162 per cent, solid matter, with a 
density of 1*1225. A later analysis, in August 1889, gave the density 
as 1*1569, and the total solids in solution as 19-5576 per cent. It is 
fairly safe to assert that under the conditions now prevailing in the 
Great Basin, the waters of the lake average from 16 to 18 per cent, solid 
contents. As would be expected, few species of living things have been 
found in its waters; yet the assertion that no life exists therein is 
entirely unwarranted. He vouched for the occurrence of each of the 
following, most of which were abundant: — (1) Larvae of a species of 
the Tipulidae, described as Chironomus oceanicus Pack. (2) Larvae and 
pupae of Ephydra gracilis Pack. The pupa-cases of this insect accu- 
mulate in great numbers upon the shores, where they undergo decom- 
position, with emanation of very disagreeable odours, recognizable at a 
distance of miles from the lake. (3) One species of Corixa , probably 
G. decolor Uhler. (4) But by far the most abundant is Artemia fertilis 
Verrill, commonly called the brine shrimp. These are often present in 
such numbers as to tint the water over wide areas. The structure and 
habits of the Artemise would prove a most interesting subject of investi- 
