Nov., 1890. 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
263 
phis), a squilla, millipedes, scorpions, and several pupae; also an 
interesting echinoderrn. Mr. Bolton exhibited under the microscope 
living specimens of Lacinularia socialis, showing the group and an 
individual with its internal structure. Mr. H. W. Wilkinson exhibited, 
from the neighbourhood of Ludlow, a collection of plants, including 
Myrrhis odorata , Campanula Trachelium, Fumaria paliidiflora, Verbascum 
Thapsus, and Colchium autunmale ; also a fine collection of lichens, 
including Graphis scripta, Umbilicaria pustulaia, Calicium hyperellum, 
Peltigera polydactyla, Evernia furfuracea, and Cetraria aculeata .— 
General Meeting, October 7th. This was the first meeting of 
the winter session, and most of the sections of the society were 
well represented. The President (Mr. C. Pumphrey) occupied 
the chair, and there was a good attendance of members. Two 
new members were proposed for election. The numerous objects 
exhibited were duly explained, and many further examined by the aid 
of a number of microscopes. Mr. C. Pumphrey exhibited, for Mr. C. 
D. Sturge. an abnormal leaf of the chestnut, similar in venation and 
form to the oak leaf. He exhibited some fine specimens of Physalis 
Alkekengi in fruit, and also showed under the microscope the club- 
shaped hairs in the flower of the snapdragon. Mr. W. It. Hughes, 
F.L.S., Daphne Mezereum, in fruit. Mr. W. B. Grove, M.A., a fungus 
from Dudley Castle, Hemiarcyria clavata, and others of the Myxomy- 
cetes ; also Torrubia militaris, from a garden at Edgbaston. Mr. C. J. 
Watson, an interesting collection of flowers and plants from Norway. 
Mr. G. M. Iliffe, the male and female glow-worm from Capel Curig. 
Mr. Thomas Bolton, living specimens of Plumatella repens, Cordylo- 
phora lacustris , and Hydrodictyon utriculatum. Mr. W. H. Wilkinson, 
section of a lichen, showing its internal structure and seed spores in situ. 
—Biological Section, October 14th. Mr. W. B. Grove, M.A., in the 
chair, and about 80 members and friends present. Messrs. G. H. 
Dugard and Steele Elliott were unanimously elected members of the 
society. Mr. W. ft. Hughes, F.L.S., exhibited fruit of Spindle Tree 
(Euonymus europceus), from Gloucester. Dr. A. Milnes Marshall, M.A., 
M.D., D.Sc., F.R. S.,then delivered a lecture on “Animals’ Pedigrees,” 
which he illustrated with a series of beautifully painted diagrams. He 
said that the pedigrees of any two individuals (no matter how widely 
separated from one another), if both could be traced back far enough, 
would ultimately unite in a single progenitor, and he proceeded to show 
some of the kinds of evidence on which the biologist bases his conclu¬ 
sions as to the pedigrees of species of animals now living. He pointed 
out the supreme importance of embryology in this regard, and especi¬ 
ally of the theory of recapitulation. Of course this recapitulation is not 
perfect ; the history is often broken or distorted, and so violently 
changed that it is difficult to grasp its real meaning. But, on the 
other hand, it is often so plain that the truths it enforces do not admit 
of a doubt. In an early stage of life the crab has a tail as long as a 
lobster has in the same stage, and it is clear that both crab and lobster 
are derived from a long-tailed ancestor. The lecturer then considered 
the subject of degeneration, which he explained by the fact that the 
“ survival of the fittest ” does not mean that the ideally most perfect 
will survive, but the one which, on the whole, is most suited to its 
environment. So a man entering a shop to buy an umbrella will 
select, not the one which most nearly approaches ideal perfection, but 
the one which best hits off the mean between his various likes and dis¬ 
likes in the matter of umbrellas and the money he is prepared to give 
for it. We ourselves, he said, are perfect museums of degenerate 
rudimentary organs, physically and mentally—in speech, in manners, 
and in dress. As an example, he mentioned the small muscles which 
are found in the lobes of the ear. These, with us, are entirely 
functionless, and can only be explained by inheritance from a more 
fully-equipped ancestor. At the close of the lecture a hearty vote of 
