Microscopical Society of Victoria. 
71 
Some wonderful tales respecting these eggs were told by Dr. 
Mantell. The inner membrane has precisely the same chemical 
reaction under iodine and sulphuric acid as cellulose, a circum¬ 
stance which might in some measure excuse the assignation of 
such bodies to the vegetable kingdom, though the whole appear¬ 
ance is entirely that of minute eggs.” 
PEOCEEDINGS. 
31 st July , 1879. 
Ordinary Meeting. 
The President, Dr. Ralph, in the chair. 
The minutes of previous meeting were read and confirmed, and 
Mr. E. L. Chase was elected a member. 
Mr. Barnard read extracts from an article in Science Gossip , 
No. 1G2, On preparing and mounting leaves and other parts of 
plants , to show the Crystals in situ , by W. H. Hammond ; and 
exhibited a series of leaves prepared in accordance therewith. 
These were beautiful objects. 
The President, commenting on the paper, mentioned an old 
plan of producing artificial crystals of oxalate of lime in plant 
leaves; and suggested that the members should try experiments 
by supplying plants with different materials, and note what 
effects might follow either in the shape or chemical nature of the 
crystals. 
Mr. Goldstein mentioned the variegation in plant leaves as a 
problem the solving of which would be a most profitable discovery, 
and instanced how ordinary variegation might be obliterated by 
feeding the plant on sulphate of iron, which had the effect of 
making the leaves of a uniform deep green. Variegation might 
therefore be supposed to be caused by a want of iron in the soil. 
