REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
163 
palate of Testacella lialiotidea. Mr. J. Madison then read a paper on 
“ A Visit to Loch Skein.” The writer described the journey as a 
conchological one. The route taken was through Moffat Dale, where a 
waterfall, “ The Grey Mare’s Tail,” was visited. When Loch Skein 
was reached, though the 13th of June, the mountains had twelve inches 
of snow on their summits. The Loch was worked as one of the two 
recorded habitats of Limncea peregra var. Burnetti, the other one being 
in Carmarthenshire. Many specimens were taken, though the mature 
ones were much eroded. The writer described a ramble by St. Mary’s 
Loch, and through Selkirk and Melrose to Edinburgh, from whence the 
return was made. At the close of the paper the collection of shells was 
exhibited.—April 25th. An evening devoted mainly to conchologv. 
Mr. C. P. Neville exhibited a series of specimens of Conus from the 
Magellan Straits; Mr. P. T. Deakin, a collection of land shells made in 
Somerset and Dorsetshire ; Mr. J . Madison, a large collection of Helix 
aspersa, showing 180 variations from the type specimen; Mr. Moore, a 
collection, chiefly of the neighbourhood ; Mr. A. T. Evans, Terebratula 
caput-serpentis ; Mr. H. Insley, fossil shells from the Chalk and Green¬ 
sand ; Mr. H. Hawkes, a specimen of Empetrum nigrum , and (under 
the microscope) capsules of Jungermannia, showing elaters scattering 
gemmae and spores.—May 2nd. Mr. J. Moore showed specimens of the 
Black Ant. Formica nigra , and gizzard of the same under the micro¬ 
scope ; Mr. F. Shrive, living specimens of the common ring snake; 
Mr. J. W. Neville, a slide of selected foraminifera from sponge sand; 
Mr. H. Hawkes, twin female flowers of Taxus baccata. —May 9th. 
Mr. Mulliss exhibited a foetus two months old; Mr. A. T. Evans, part 
of a trilobite in a quartzite pebble from the Drift. A paper written by 
Mr. Thoms, F.R.M.S., on “ The Origin of Leaven,” was then read by 
Mr. Hutchinson. The writer took exception to the accepted views of 
M. Pasteur and others that life only proceeded from life germs in the 
atmosphere, quoting the fact of his having found bacilli, etc., in cells 
having no apparent inlet through which germs from the atmosphere 
could be conveyed. The writer concluded that the organisms in such 
cells were the result of disintegrated cell contents becoming functional. 
LEICESTER LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 
—Section D, Zoology and Botany. Chairman, F. T. Mott, F.R.G.S. — 
Evening meeting, Wednesday, April 20th. Attendance nine (one 
lady). The chairman thanked the members for their confidence and 
assistance during his three years of office. He thought it was undesir¬ 
able to make the post a permanent one ; that a change of leadership 
would tend to freshness and vigour, and that all the active members 
of the Section should occupy the chair in turn ; he wished, therefore, 
to resign the post, and moved that Dr. Tomkins, Officer of Health for 
the Borough, be elected chairman for the ensuing year from June next, 
and that Dr. C. W. Cooper be re-elected hon. secretary. The motion 
was carried unanimously. The chairman reported that at the Field 
Day Excursion on the 9th, the first of the season, six members visited 
the Old Ansty Lane. The day was cold and dull, but they collected 
nine species of mosses, among them being Brachytheciuvi glareosum , 
new to the county; two species of Hepaticaa, one being Lophocolea 
heterophylla in full fruit; and five species of land shells, among them 
a single specimen of the rather rare Bulimus obscurus, and a whole 
community of the pretty Helix rotundata under the bark of an old 
stump. The following objects were exhibited, viz:—By Mr. E. F. 
Cooper, F.L. S., a flowering branch of a Eucalyptus, probably globulus , 
received with other cut flowers from the Riviera. By Rev. T. A. 
Preston, M.A., specimens in spirit of the floating sea-weed, Sargassum 
