species and genera obtained, and gives good drawings of the anatomy of some of the new and most remarkable forms. He also adds a useful note concerning the best method of preserving these soft and delicate creatures.
The abstract of a "Monograph of the Gymnozoidal Discostomatous Flagellata, with a new Scheme of Classification of the Protozoa," by Mr. W. Saville-Kent, was read by the Secretary. In this communication the writer places on record the results of his extended investigations among that remarkable "collar-bearing" group of the flagellate Infusoria first introduced to scientific notice by the late Prof. H. J. Clark of Pennsylvania, in 1868. By Mr. Kent's researches, the group is now made to embrace no less than eight well-marked genera and about forty species, in place of the two genera and four species first introduced by Prof. Clark. The majority of the members of this group are sedentary in their habits, being attached in a sessile manner by a pedicle to aquatic objects. Compound colonies are frequently produced, rivalling in luxuriance, &c,, colony stalks of Epistylis, &c., among higher ciliate Infusoria. Some are characterized by inhabiting transparent Coricæ, after the manner of Vaginicola, and others rove freely through the water. All are of such minute size as to require a magnifying power of at least 500 diameters for their investigation, and possibly to this circumstance they may so long have escaped the attention of observers. The chief significance that attaches to the collar-bearing group in question is the circumstance, first recognized by Prof. J. Clark, that similar animalcules constitute the fundamental basis and the essential living units of all known Sponges. This identity of structure, confirmed by the investigations of Mr. Carter, has been followed up in Mr. Kent's memoir, and is held by him to be subversive of Prof. Haeckel's theory as to the coelenterate nature of Sponges. Mr. Kent further submits a proposition for a new classification of the subkingdom Protozoa, which he divides into four leading natural groups of equal value, the distinctive features of which are afforded by the characters of the oral or interruptive area. These Protozoan groups are termed by him, (1) Olostomata, (2) Polystomata, (3) Discostomata, and (4) Monostomata.
Another paper, which may be considered as appertaining to a zoological moot subject, was read by Prof. Charlton Bastian, viz., "On the Conditions favouring Fermentation and the Appearances of Bacteria." In this the author puts his matter in a fourfold aspect:—1. He makes known in detail certain experimental conditions which he has found to be highly favourable to the occurrence of fermentation in boiled fluids.2. He records fresh instances of the occurrence of fermentation in boiled acid fluids, which according to M. Pasteur invariably remain barren.3. He brings forward certain crucial evidence upon the disputed interpretation of the fertility of boiled neutral or faintly alkaline fluids.4. He adduces further instances of fermentation of fluids heated to 230° Fahr. and upwards.
