184 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



SPECIAL MEETING. 

 NATURAL HISTORY CLASS ROOM, GLASGOW UNIVERSITY. 



February 15th, 1872. 



Professor John Young, M.D., F.G-.S., President, in the chair. 



Professor Alexander Dickson, M.D., exhibited a series of pre- 

 parations of monocotyledonous embryos, the subject being further 

 illustrated by numerous beautiful diagrams. Dr Dickson had 

 also on the table a number of specimens illustrating dichogamy. 



Mr Gray exhibited a collection of birds' eggs from Iceland. 

 This collection, which had been made in the north-eastern portion 

 of that country, and chiefly in the neighbourhood of Seidesfiord, 

 embraced at least half-a-dozen species not included by Professor 

 Newton of Cambridge, in his account of the ornithology of Iceland, 

 published in 1863. Among these may be mentioned the Rock 

 Pipit (AntJms ru])estris), the Rock Dove (Columha livia), the 

 Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), the Herring Gull {Lams argentatus), 

 and the Lesser Black-backed Gull (L. fuscus). 



Mr Gray likewise exhibited a specimen of the common Francolin 

 (Francolinus vulgaris), and its Qgg, from Tricomo, in the island of 

 Cyprus, and read some remarks on the extinction of that bird as 

 a Euro]3ean species. The Francolin appears to have had at one 

 time a somewhat extensive distribution in the south of Europe, 

 having been commonly met with in Spain, Sicily, Malta, Cyprus, 

 Sardinia, Naples, the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, and 

 Turkey. After giving the authorities for its former existence in 

 these localities, Mr Gray stated that, with the exception of Cyprus, 

 where a few birds might still be lingering, every European haunt 

 had been entirely deserted. He expressed himself indebted to 

 the Rev. John Pagan of Bothwell, for the opportunity of exhibit- 

 ing the specimen, and also for some interesting notes on the 

 habits of the species in connection with the last of its European 

 habitats. 



Ten years ago, Lord Lilford, in a contribution to the " Ibis," 

 had drawn the attention of ornithologists to the fact of its 

 gradual extinction over a wide area, and maintained that, thougli 

 doubts might exist as to the propriety of including the island of 

 Cyprus within European range, the Francolin had become a thing 



