Journal of Proceedings. clxxiii
served at tables placed along the garden terrace, Lord Rayleigh gave
a short but lucid address on " The Mechanical Questions Involved in the
Flight of Birds," a subject to which he had given much attention, and
which he had selected for an address as being likely to be of much
interest to a Naturalists' Society. At the close of the address, Prof.
Meldola, on behalf of the Club, said that they were extremely grateful
to Lord Rayleigh for his very interesting remarks, as well as for his and
Lady Rayleigh's kind hospitality to the Club.
Lord Rayleigh then invited those present who were interested in
physics to fill up the interval before departure by witnessing a few
experiments in his laboratory. It is needless to say that to the more
scientific members of the party this visit was a great treat. Lord Ray-
leigh's laboratory is that of a conscientious worker for science and his
researches carried on here with patience and method, have added many
a stone to the grand edifice of modern physical science.
Other members paid a visit to Terling Church, an ancient structure
of flint and brick, where the brasses and the beautiful woodwork of the
south porch were much admired.
Leaving Terling Place, a short drive through the evening air—plea-
sant after the great heat which had prevailed all day—led to Hatfield
Peverel Station, where most of the members of the Club took the up
train in which carriages had been specially reserved for them.
Friday and Saturday, October 2nd and 3rd, 1885. The
Sixth Annual Cryptogamic Meeting.
This meeting took place in Epping Forest in accordance with
arrangements very similar to those of the former meetings. On Friday
the rendezvous was at Epping, and the party (consisting among others,
of Or. Cooke, Mr. English, Or. Walker, Mr. A. Lister. Prof. Boulger,
Mr. C. A. Wright, Mr. W. Cole, and Mr. H. A. Cole) thoroughly searched
the Forest lying to the north of the town, obtaining very many interest-
ing species.
Mr. Lister called attention to the plasmodium of Badhamia utricu-
laris—one of the remarkable group of the Myxomycetes—crawling over
the felled trunks of Hornbeams. Mr. Lister stated that he had not met.
with this for the past three years, though before that time it frequently
occurred in his own garden at Leytonstone.*
* Mr. Lister subsequently reported some observations on these specimens of the
immature stage of Badhamia which may be of interest. He wrote : "I cut off some
pieces of bark upon which the plasmodia were creeping, and put them on glass
plates under tumblers to watch their course. Some of them never recovered the
shock of gathering; they died and dried up. Others crawled off the bark and
spread over the glass plate in a beautiful network of yellow veins, through which
the torrent of circulation could be observed under the microscope. The stream of
protoplasm flows in one direction for a minute or two, then it slowly ceases and
comes to rest for some seconds, when the stream recommences in the opposite way;