NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 319 



measured 28 inches in length and 5 inches in girth. On the back 

 and sides it resembled a very brilliant coloured mackerel, the belly- 

 being of a silvery white. The nose ran out to a fine point, measuring 

 6 J inches from the eyes to its needle-like extremity. He likewise 

 showed a very perfect but small specimen of the Spider crab, Naia 

 sqidnado, tonnd by one of his sons amongst the rocksbetween Dunoon 

 andlnnellan, and the shell of a larger variety, which he had obtained 

 from a fisherman, who had captured it in Lochlong. These were 

 of local interest, especially the Gar-fish, which was one of the 

 largest ever taken in the Clyde. Dr Flemyng also exhibited 

 specimens of the Box-crab, Griphia ; the Sponge-crab, Dromia; 

 and the Hermit-crab, Pagurus, from Mauritius; and a very fine 

 skull and tusks of the Babyrussa, Sus bahyrussa, from Java; a 

 skull and teeth of a hyaena, the tusks of a wild boar, the tooth 

 and part of the skin of a hippopotamus, the head and horns of a 

 small antelope, and a very fine stufi'ed specimen of the deadly 

 puflf-adder. These, together with a pipe made of assagai wood, 

 and inlaid with lead, and a Kaffir snuff-box of native manufacture, 

 were also from south-eastern Africa. In describing the various 

 objects, Dr Flemyng gave interesting accounts of the incidents 

 connected with the capture of each. 



Mr Eobert Hill, corresponding member, exhibited a series of 

 finely preserved skins of birds, from Berbice, British Guiana. 

 The collection embraced examples of the Horned owl. Crested 

 eagle. Jay, Climbing bird. Humming bird, etc. With these Mr 

 Hill showed a number of various objects of interest from the same 

 country, Mr John Kirsop and Mr James Lumsden, F.Z.S., making 

 some explanatory remarks on them. 



Mr John Kirsop exhibited a fine specimen of a recent brain-coral, 

 Meandrina labyrinthka, from Belize, British Honduras, which 

 measured 18 inches in diameter by 9 inches in height. Mr John 

 Young, F.G.S., spoke of the growth of such corals in the tropical 

 seas in which they are found. Some species of corals grow more 

 rapidly than others. According to Professor Dana, a specimen of 

 Meandrina labyr'mthica attained a size of 12 inches in diameter by 

 4 inches in height in the course of 20 years, while another species 

 only attained a radius of 6 inches in 12 years. The estimated 

 growth upwards of a living coral-reef is apparently very slow, 

 being only one-sixteenth of an inch in the year, or 5 feet in 1000 

 years. 



