Jan. 90, 
1818. 
Extracts from the Minute- Book of the Society. 585 
and extraordinary occurrence induced me to examine the 
spur of the animal; and on pressing it down on the leg 
the fluid squirted through the tube: but for what purpose 
Nature has so armed these animals is as yet unknown to 
me. The female is oviparous, and lives in burrows in 
the ground, so that itis seldom seen either on shore or 
in the water. The males are seen in numbers through- 
out our winter months only, floating and diving in all our ` 
large rivers; but they cannot continue long under water. 
I had one drowned by having been left during the night 
in a large tub of water. I have found no other substance 
in their stomachs than small fish and fry. They are very 
shy, and avoid the shot by diving and afterwards rising 
at a considerable distance." 
Mr. Lambert, V.P. communicated to the Society an 
Extract of a Letter from Don Jose Pavon of Madrid, one 
of the authors of the Flora Peruviana, stating that he and 
5 his companions Ruiz and Dombey had found the potatoe 
Feb. n 
(Solanum tuberosum) growing wild in the environs of Lima, 
and fourteen leagues from thence on the coast of Peru, as 
well as in Chili; and that it is cultivated very abundantly 
in those countries by the Indians, who call it Papas. 
Dr. Maton, V. P. communicated a. Letter from the 
Rev. Revett Sheppard, F.L.S.,. stating that. on the first 
of this month he shot a fine specimen of the common 
heron (Ardea major), and that its feathers were covered 
with a powder of a light blue colour; but in what man- 
ner this powder is secreted, or whether it occurs in the 
winter:season only, he has not: been able to ascertain. 
The Secretary stated, that Mr. Robert Gee has com- 
municated to the President a specimen of Saliz cinerea, 
(Flor. Brit. 1063, Eng. Bot. 1897,) with androgynous cat- 
kins, 
