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REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
deliquescens, Pero7iospora Ficarice, Peziza cyathoidea, P. nivea, and P. fusca, 
from Sutton; Torula pulveracea, Uredo hifrons, and Peronospora grisea, from 
Marston Green. Mr. W. Greatlieed then read a paper on “ Vertebrate Egg-life,” 
in which he gave an account of the changes which take place in the vertebrate 
ovum, in its development from a single cell to the organised mass of cells which 
constitutes the new-born young. After pointing out that in the scientific sense 
of the word the shell is no essential pai-t of the egg, being absent in those of 
frogs, snakes, fish, and mammals, he proceeded to define an egg as “ a cell amid 
many cells,” which, owing to some peculiarity, is to have a far more glorious 
destiny than its companion cells : the growth of an egg, however, must not be 
looked upon as essentially different from that which a bud undergoes, the 
process of fertilisation being merely a means by which the energy of the cell- 
division that constitutes growth is much increased. He then detailed the 
changes which take place in the germinal vesicle, the multiplication of the cells 
in certain definite directions, the formation of the “ primitive groove,” of the 
head and limbs, of the heart and the spinal chord, of the eye and the ear, and of 
the two coverings by which the embryo is protected from injury. He also 
referred to some of the more philosophical and general aspects of the 
deductions which can be drawn from the maxim “ That the histoi’y of the 
individual repeats the history of the race,” and took occasion, in passing, to 
refer to the great loss which science had sustained in the early death of 
Professor Balfour, “the second Darwin.” The Chairman (Mr. E. W. Chase i made 
a few comments upon the paper, which was illustrated by some microscopical 
sections and diagrams, kindly lent by Professor Hay craft, of the Mason College. 
SociOLiOGicAL Section, June 7th.—The Second meeting of this Section of the 
Society was held at the Mason College. The President (Mr. W. R. Hughes, 
F.L.S.) occupied the chair, and there was a large attendance, including several 
ladies. Chapter II. of Mr. Herbert Spencer’s “Essay on Education” was intro¬ 
duced by Mr. Greatlieed. The following members took part in the discussion :— 
The President, Professor Sonnenschein, Dr. Hill, Messrs. Greatlieed, Cullis, 
Hayes, Major, Williams, Pickering, Pearson, Barratt, and Collins. An Excursion 
of the Section to “ Shakespeare’s Country ” was fixed for October 6th. The next 
meeting takes place on Thursday, July 12th, when the last two chapters of the 
“ Essay on Education ” will be discussed. Genebae Meeting, June 19th.—Some 
of the members who had attended the meeting of the Midland Union of Natural 
History Societies at Tamworth on the previous Tuesday and Wednesday gave an 
account of what took place, and a vote of thanks was passed to the Tamworth 
Society for the excellent measures which they had taken to render the gathering 
a success. Mr. W. P. Marshall exhibited the apparatus that had been prepared 
for the forthcoming dredging operations which the Society intends to commence 
at Oban at the end of June. Mr. W. B. Grove exhibited Pezizacochleata, Oidium 
chartarum ; and the following Fungi from Solihull— Peziza umhrata (Fries, not 
Cooke), SphcBTia acuminata, S. doliolum, Peronospora effusa, P. grisea, and 
Urocystis pompliolygodes ; also, on behalf of Mr. Bolton, Puccinia Betonicce 
from Yorkshire. Mr. J. E. Bagnall exhibited Chara fragilis, Nitella flexilis. 
Corex curta, Bronnis commutatus, Littorella lacustris, and Equisetum sylva- 
ticiim, all rare, from Earlswood ; Nardus strictn, from Baxterley Common, 
Equisetum maximum, from Bentley Park, and other plants. Mr. T. Clarke com¬ 
municated a new method of mounting animal preparations in spirits of wine, 
sixty-four over proof, and showed some slides which had remained for two years 
without suffering from evaporation. Professor Hillhouse described a similarls'' 
successful mode of mounting vegetable objects in glycerine which he had 
invented : the cell is closed by Canada balsam, dissolved in turpentine, which 
effectually prevents the glycerine from oozing out. The Secretary then read a 
paper by Mr. Thomas Bolton, P.R.M.S., in which he enumerated the “ Dis¬ 
coveries in Freshwater and Marine Life ” within the last four years, for which 
he claimed credit. These included the following species of Rhizopoda, 
Itifusoria, Annelida, and Entomostraca: —J?a.p7ifdfop7irt/s pallida, and B. 
elegans, Hyalodaphnia Kahlbergensis, Ilyocryptus sordidus, Acineta grandis, 
Stichotricha remex, Floscularia regalis, F. amhigua, F. coronetta, Haplobranchus 
cestuarinus, Nais littoralis (not found before, since its first discovery fifty years 
ago), Chilomonas spira lis and Hemidinium nasutam (from Sutton Park), and other 
rare organisms, most of them new to Great Britain, and some new to science. 
