Garganey at Rainworth, Notts.-Though I have already mentioned in The Field' that a pair of these ducks were seen on the lake here in April last year, I should like to note in The Zoologist' that they were seen on April 9th and 10th. This was the first time they had ever been observed on any of the ponds about here, although we have looked for them for years, and their occurrence therefore is of some interest.-J. WHITAKER (Rainworth, Notts).

Mobbing by Crows.-Most naturalists will remember Bates's account of being mobbed by Curl-crested Toucans, Pteroglossus Beauharnaisii, on the Amazons. Birds less gregarious will sometimes do this; of course it is easy, by holding up a young bird, to bring down the parents within a few feet from among a crowd of Gulls and Terns on their breeding-grounds; but the Crow is, as a rule, not abundant or bold enough in this country to assemble for the purpose of mobbing anyone. In Denmark, however, in the fine beech and fir woods that stretch for about 20 miles north of Copenhagen, from Charlottenlund to Hornbaek, the Hooded Crow, Corvus cornix, is very abundant, and exceedingly impudent and tame, being but little molested there. I was once fairly driven away and routed by them. I had ascended a tree in order to inspect a nest of young Crows, which were so well fledged, however, that, on my head appearing over the edge of the nest, they all fluttered out, two falling to the ground near the foot of the tree. I accordingly descended, and, after a little trouble, caught one of them and proceeded to examine it. At first it kept quite quiet, until I tried to open its beak to examine the colour of the palate. This, however, seemed more than it could stand, and it called out so noisily, and so startled me with its suddenness and violence, that I almost let it drop to the ground. At once the other young ones began screaming also, and in a few seconds the parents appeared, settling overhead, and adding to the din. Presently two others came hurrying up, then more and more, until there must have been upwards of two dozen, and the noise-to use an expressive Scoticism -was fairly "deaving." The fury of the birds was remarkable; they were simply convulsed with rage, and could hardly remain quiet on the branches. The noise became so unendurable that I was forced to beat a speedy and ignominious retreat. In this case, of course, the cry of the young bird was the exciting cause; but these Crows do not always require that incentive, for once coming suddenly to the edge of a small swampy savannah in the forest, I surprised a flock of thirty or forty feeding; these at once rose on the wing, but, instead of flying away, began to wheel about and follow me along the edge of the wood, each vying with its neighbour in abusive outcry. This only lasted for a minute or so, for-like a flash-a little male Hobby, whose mate was sitting on eggs close at hand, appeared amongst them, and, with a few lightning-like" stoops" right and left, dispersed the entire flock. They seemed frightened at the Hobby, though they torment

and mob the Buzzard unmercifully. In England and Scotland I have brought the mother Crow, C. corone, within a few yards by holding up a partly-fledged young one; but the male bird usually keeps well out of gunshot, and none other than the Crows immediately interested show any concern.-HAROld Raeburn (Halifax).

SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.

LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON.

February 1st, 1894.-Prof. STEWART, President, in the chair.

Sir Hugh Low and Mr. F. C. Smith were admitted Fellows. Dr. JohannMueller and Mr. K. Mitsukuri were recommended by the Council for election as Foreign Members.

The President exhibited a remarkable specimen of a South-African butterfly, Teracolus halyattes, from Natal, in which the wings on one side were those of a male and on the other those of a female, and made some remarks on hermaphroditism in the Lepidoptera.

On behalf of Mr. William Borrer, of Cowfold, Sussex, there was exhibited a skull of the Pine Marten, Martes sylvatica, Nilsson, from a specimen killed near Crawley (Zool. 1891, p. 458), an examination of which confirmed the view of the late E. R. Alston (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1879, p. 469), that, so far as could be ascertained, this is the only species of Marten found in the British Islands.

On behalf of Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, there was exhibited a drawing of a Snow Leopard, taken for the first time from life-namely, from the animal now living in the Zoological Society's Gardens, Regent's Park. The long, thick, and soft fur, suggestive of a cold habitat, and the unusual size of the wide-spreading feet, well suited for travelling over an expanse of yielding snow, were noteworthy features.

Mr. Malcolm Laurie read a paper on the Morphology of the Pedipalpi. He considered the first two ventral sclerites to the abdomen to be appendages, and not sternites. The first of these-the genital operculum-covers the ventral surface of two segments, the genital aperture, and the first pair of lung-books lying beneath it. The first pair of lung-books, he thought, probably represent the remains of the appendage of the second segThe arrangement of this region resembles that in Eurypterida and in the spiders (e. g. Liphistius), while differing markedly from that in Scorpions. The posterior end of the intestine is dilated into a large stercoral pouch which is part of the mid-gut, the malpighian tubes arising from its posterior end. The cephalothoracic portion of the mid-gut differs in

ment.

structure from the abdominal portion, and, in addition to lateral diverticula, has two median ventral diverticula. The coxal gland opens at the base of the third pair of appendages, and a sensory organ of unknown function occurs on each side of the last segment. An interesting discussion followed, in which Mr. R. J. Pocock, Mr. H. M. Bernard, and the President took part, and Mr. Laurie replied.

A paper was then communicated by Mr. W. West, "On the Freshwater Algae of the West Indies," in which several new species were described and beautifully illustrated. Mr. G. Murray, in criticising this paper, testified to the extreme care and accuracy with which the species had been worked out.

Feb. 15th.-Prof. STEWART, President, in the chair.

Mr. Linnæus Greening was elected, and Mr. Albert Smith was admitted a Fellow of the Society.

Mr. W. B. Hemsley exhibited some germinating seeds of Lemna and some flowering plants of Lemna gibba, upon which, in his absence, some remarks were made by Mr. C. H. Wright. From the observations made, it was inferred that although Lemna minor and L. gibba are usually regarded as distinct, they are respectively the male and female plant of one species.

On behalf of the Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, Mr. C. H. Wright exhibited and made some remarks upon a collection of native plants from the neighbourhood of Cape Town, which had been presented to the Herbarium by Miss Yorke, and which was remarkable for the skilful way in which the natural colours of the plants had been preserved.

On behalf of the Rev. J. G. Tuck, of Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds, there was exhibited a hybrid between the Common House Sparrow and the Tree Sparrow, Passer montanus, which had been taken near Bury on the Jan. 13th last. Only one instance of a similar wild hybrid was said to have been previously captured, although two or three instances were on record of the two species interbreeding in aviaries.

Mr. J. C. Willis gave an abstract of a paper on the Natural History of the Flower (Part II.), in which he dealt with the mode of fertilization in Brodiaa ixioides, S. Watson; Stanhopea tigrina, Bateman; Pimelea decussata, R. Br., var. diosmafolia, Cotyledon umbilicus, L.; Hydrolaa spinosa, L.; Ziziphora capitata, and made some remarks on cleistogamy in Salvia verbenaca, L. A discussion followed, in which Dr. D. H. Scott, Prof. Reynolds Green, and Mr. A. B. Rendle took part.

The Secretary read a paper, by Miss D. F. Pertz, "On Hygroscopic movements connected with seed-dispersal," in which the author partially reviewed the literature of the subject, and detailed the method of observation adopted by previous workers and by herself.

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

February 6th, 1894. Sir W. H. FLOWER, K.C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the chair.

The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie during the month of January, 1894.

Mr. Sclater exhibited a fine specimen of the River-hog of Madagascar, from the Tring Museum, lent for exhibition by the Hon. W. Rothschild, and pointed out that three distinct species of this well-marked genus of Suida were now known to occur in the Ethiopian Region. A communication from Mr. Last gave an account of the habits of this animal, as observed in Madagascar.

Mr. Sclater also exhibited a stuffed specimen of the White-billed Great Northern Diver, Colymbus adamsi, from Norway, which had been lent to him by Prof. R. Collett, and made remarks on the distribution of the species, and on its interest as occasionally occurring on the British coast.

Prof. Howes read a paper on synosteosis and curvature of the spine in fishes, with especial reference to the Common Sole.

Mr. F. E. Beddard gave an account of the development of the tadpole of an African Frog, Xenopus lavis, as observed in specimens of this Batrachian hatched and reared in the Society's Gardens.

Mr. Chas. W. Andrews gave an account of some remains of the extinct gigantic bird (Epyornis) which had been recently received at the British Museum from several localities in Madagascar. These were referred to three species-E. muelleri, E. medius, and E. titan, the last being of larger size than even E. maximus. Another set of remains showed differences which might eventually prove to be of generic importance, and were perhaps referable to the newly-established genus Muellerornis.

Mr. M. Barkley read some notes on the Antelopes of the Pungue Valley, East Africa, as observed by him during a recent hunting expedition in that district.

The Marquis of Hamilton made some observations on the Antelopes met with by him during a recent excursion from the Pungue along the coast northwards towards the Zambesi.

Mr. O. Thomas read the description of a new species of Bat of the genus Stenoderma from Montserrat, West Indies, proposed to be called S. montserratense. This bat was stated to be very injurious to the cacao-plantations in that island.-P. L. SCLATER, Secretary.

ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

February 7th, 1894.-HENRY JOHN ELWES, Esq., F.L.S., President, in the chair.

The President announced that he had nominated the Rt. Hon. Lord Walsingham, LL.D., F.R.S.; Professor Edward B. Poulton, M.A., F.R.S.,

and Colonel Charles Swinhoe, M.A., F.L.S., Vice-Presidents of the Society for the session 1894-95.

Mr. Walter F. Baker, of 18, Hyde Terrace, Leeds; Mr. Percy M. Bright, of Roccabruna, Bournemouth; Professor Lewis Compton Miall, F.R.S., of the Yorkshire College, Leeds; and Mr. Edwin Wilson, of Cherry Hinton Road, Cambridge, were elected Fellows of the Society.

Mr. Jenner Weir exhibited, on behalf of Mr. J. M. Adye, a specimen of Plusia moneta, Fabr., which had been captured at Christchurch, Hants, and remarked that this species, which had been found in this country for the first time so recently as June, 1890, was apparently becoming a permanent resident here, as it had been since taken in several of the southern counties. The food-plant, Aconitum napellus, though rare in England as a wild plant, was very common in gardens. Mr. Jenner Weir also exhibited a nearly black specimen of Venilia macularia, L., the yellow markings being reduced to a few small dots.

Mr. Hamilton Druce exhibited a female specimen of Hypochrysops scintillans, lately received by him from Mioko, New Ireland. He said that only the male of this species had been as yet described.

Mr. F. Enock exhibited a nest of the British Trap-door Spider, Atypus piceus, recently found near Hastings by Mrs. Enock.

Mr. W. F. H. Blandford stated that he had recently obtained an additional species of Scolyto-platypus from Japan, which, though closely allied to the species he had formerly described, showed a very distinct modification of the male prosternum.

Mr. M. Jacoby exhibited and remarked on a specimen of Leptispa pygmæa, Baly, which was doing much injury to sugar-cane in the Bombay Presidency of India. Mr. G. C. Champion stated that he had found an allied species on bamboo.

Dr. F. A. Dixey read a paper-which was illustrated by the oxyhydrogen lantern-"On the Phylogeny of the Pierina as illustrated by their wingmarkings and geographical distribution." A long discussion ensued, in which the President, Mr. Osbert Salvin, Mr. Jacoby, Colonel Swinhoe, Mr. Jenner Weir, Mr. Hampson, and Mr. Kenrick took part.

Dr. T. A. Chapman read a paper entitled "Some notes on those species of Micro-Lepidoptera, allied to Micropteryx, whose larvæ are external feeders, and chiefly on the early stages of Eriocephala calthella." Mr. Hampson and the President made some remarks on the subject of the paper.

Mr. Hamilton H. Druce read a paper entitled "Description of the female of Hypochrysops scintillans, Butler."

The Rev. Dr. Walker communicated a paper by Mr. R. H. F. Rippon, entitled "Description of a variety of Ornithoptera (Priamoptera) urvilliana.” -H. Goss & W. W. FOWLER, Hon. Secretaries.