Transactions and scientific publications formerly defective, has rendered necessary the purchase of a new book-case, sufficiently large to meet the Society's requirements for some time to come. The Council has, therefore, great satisfaction in directing the attention of the members to the Library, which is in better order than at any former period.

The Council concludes its Report with the recommendation of the following members for election on the new Council:- Messrs. B. L. Benas, Birch, and Hetherington, Dr. Drysdale, and the Rev. J. Alden Davies.

The Honorary Treasurer next submitted his Annual Statement of Accounts, which was passed on the motion of Mr. King, seconded by Mr. Baruchson.

The following office-bearers and ordinary Members of Council were then elected to serve for the ensuing year :— Vice-Presidents - Alfred Higginson, M.R.C.S., Thomas J. Moore, Cor. Mem. Z. S. L., John J. Drysdale, M.D., M.R.C.S., F.R.M.S.; Honorary Treasurer - Richard C. Johnson, F.R.A.S.; Honorary Secretary-James Birchall; Honorary Librarian-Alfred Morgan; Members of CouncilJ. Campbell Brown, D.Sc., etc., Alfred E. Fletcher, F.C.S., W. Carter, M.B., Rev. E. M. Geldart., M.A., Edward R. Russell, Edward Davies, F.C.S., C. H. Stearn, George H. Morton, F.G.S., Rev. Jacob Prag, Baron Louis Benas, James Birch, J. Newby Hetherington, Rev. J. Alden Davies, James Smith.

The Associates of the Society were next re-elected.

The retiring President then vacated the Chair, and Mr. Picton having taken his place, it was moved by the Rev.

Henry H. Higgins, M.A., seconded by Dr. Nevins, and carried unanimously—

"That the cordial thanks of this Society be given to Mr. Albert Julius Mott, for the able and graceful manner in which he has performed the duties of President, and for the exceedingly valuable addresses he has given to the members during his term of office."

Mr. MOTT having replied, the PRESIDENT read his First Inaugural Address, which was followed by a hearty vote of thanks.

Ladies were present at this Meeting.

FIRST ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, October 18th, 1875.

J. A. PICTON, F.S.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

Ladies were present at the Meeting.

Messrs. James Simpson and Philip A. Hale were elected ordinary members.

The proceedings took the form of a Conversazione on Natural Science.

Mr. THOMAS HIGGIN, F.L.S., read the following Paper, "On some Sponges recently presented to the Free Museum," specimens of which were exhibited in the room :

Our friend, Mr. Moore, possesses the happy art of kindling in the breasts of many of our townsmen, whose business or pleasure takes them to other lands, a taste for inquiry into the natural history of the countries they visit; and, consequently, he is continually receiving from his numerous friends so situated contributions valuable both to the Museum

* See page 1.

and to science. Amongst such contributions lately received have been several species of sponges which are worthy of notice. One, a large trumpet-shaped sponge, standing nearly four feet high, was collected at Ambergris Island, coast of Yucatan, by Dr. Barry, Staff-Surgeon at Corosal, and by him given to Staff-Surgeon-Major Samuel Archer, stationed at Belize, who presented it to the Museum. It proves to be new to science; and at present this fine specimen, which has thus come into the possession of the town of Liverpool, is the only one known to exist in any public collection. It is in excellent condition, and great praise is due to the gentlemen above named for the care bestowed upon its preservation, and also in its transmission to this country.

On presentation to the Museum, Mr. Archer gave the sponge the appropriate name of Neptune's Trumpet, and this name has been preserved, although it has been necessary to give it as well a specific name in placing it in the group to which it properly belongs; and, in giving it a name by which the species shall in future be known, it has been thought desirable, out of compliment to Mr. Archer, who never loses an opportunity of collecting anything which may be interesting and valuable to the Museum of his native town, to associate his name with it; consequently it has been duly christened Luffaria Archeri, and under this style its existence and its characteristic features have been made known in The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, to the September number of which I beg to refer those who may desire to cultivate an intimate acquaintance with our tall friend.

It is hollow throughout, the walls of the tube being of nearly equal thickness. The tube increases in diameter as it increases in length, and has been likened by Mr. Frank Archer to the large Alpine horn with which tourists in Switzerland are familiar-used there to awaken the mountain

echoes; and if Neptune ever needed to hold converse with his friends at a distance, he would no doubt use a speakingtrumpet of this model shape to make himself heard above the roar of the tempest.

This sponge is a keratose or horny-fibred one, and belongs to a group to which the name of Luffaria has been given, because of the similarity of the appearance of its fibrous skeleton, when deprived of its dark-coloured sarcode, to the fibrous skeleton of the fruit of the gourd Luffa when denuded of its fleshy substance, a fruit which is used as a sponge in the West Indies, in those places where the common seasponge is not readily obtainable. This "vegetable sponge," as it has been called, has lately been introduced into this country as an article of commerce, and may be purchased at the druggists' shops, where it is sold as a flesh brush for use in the bath.

The skeleton network of the group Luffaria consists of clear amber-coloured hollow fibre, the hollow core of which has a lining or coating of fine granules. This fibre differs from that of the common sponge of commerce, in being amber-coloured, hollow, and rigid, the fibre of the sponge suitable for domestic purposes being solid - and resilient. Both species have very dark-coloured sarcode; and we have, fortunately, this evening, an opportunity of seeing a specimen of Luffaria and one of the common resilient sponges of commerce, growing on the same base, side by side. This mass of sponges, of which these two species are the most prominent, was lately obtained by that untiring searcher, Captain J. A. Perry, in shallow water, at Miragoane, Hayti; and, as they remain in the state in which they were when taken out of the water, having simply been dried, most of the sarcode remains adhering to the fibrous skeletons. The Luffaria, I need hardly say, is the tubular sponge, the common sponge being the rounded mass, covered with a

leathery skin. It is difficult to conceive, perhaps, that this ugly-looking lump can be anything like one of our nice clean bath sponges; but, if we were to wash away with water its dirty-looking sarcode, we should then have no difficulty in recognising in the horny skeleton that would remain, one of the open-textured West India sponges of commerce.

In this same group of sponges is one which is new to science; but its locus as to classification must remain for the present sub-judice. It is a straggler between the two groups, Suberitida and Pachytragida, and possesses flesh spicules which are peculiar to it, and are not known to occur in any other sponge. I am inclined so far to place it in the family Stellettina, pachytragous sponges with star-shaped spicules, chiefly congregated in the dermal covering, or as a dermal crust. It is very insignificant-looking, and therefore I will not draw your further attention to it.

The fragmentary black branched sponge, also presented by Captain J. A. Perry, is likewise new to science. It is one of the Halichondroid sponges, but it is remarkable in possessing the multihamate or birotulate spicule, a form which has hitherto only been found amongst the Hexactinellid sponges, and the presence of this form of spicule in sponges of this group is of much interest. On account of this peculiarity, it has been thought advisable to give it the specific name birotulata. It will therefore be called Halichondria birotulata. Since I have drawn the attention of Mr. H. J. Carter to it, the same spicule has been found in one of the Porcupine Expedition sponges, described by him under the name Halichondria abyssi.

Another specimen to which I propose to draw your attention this evening is one which Captain Perry has recently brought from Savanilla, coast of New Grenada. It is a beautiful variety of a sponge which has been found on our own coasts, and is described by Dr. Bowerbank, in his