Natttral History hi London, ' 75 



March ^. A communication from the Rev. LeonardJeni^'ns, of Cam- 

 bridge, M.A. F.L.S., was read, on two British species of Plecotiis Geoff.^ 

 supposed to have been confounded under the name of long-eared bat. 



March 18. After the meeting had assembled, the afflicting tidings 

 of the decease of Sir James Edward Smith, their eminent and much be- 

 loved President, which had arrived during the day, having been communi- 

 cated, an adjournment immediately took place. 



April I. Read, a commentary on the Hortus MalabaricuSy'PdLVt \.ihy 

 Francis Hamilton, M.D, F.R.S. and L.S. 



April 15. Read, a letter, addressed to the Secretary, from Charles 

 Lucien Buonaparte, Prince of Mesignano, F.M.L.S., dated on board the 

 Delaware, near Gibraltar, March 20^ 1828, containing some curious facts 

 relative to the migratory habits of certain birds. He observes, " A few days 

 ago, being 500 miles from the coasts of Portugal, 400 from those of Africa, 

 &c., we were agreeably surprised by the appearance of a few swallows, 

 i/irundo urbica and rustica. This, however extraordinary, might have been 

 explained by an easterly gale, which might have cut off the swallows mi- 

 grating from the main to Madeira, only 200 miles distant from us ; but 

 what was my surprise in observing several small warblers hopping about 

 the deck and rigging ! These poor little strangers, exhausted as they were, 

 were soon caught and brought to me." These warblers consisted of Sylvia 

 yrochilus, JE^rithacus, suecica, or a nearly related species; and a fourth, pro- 

 bably a nondescript, having the plumage of an A'rthus. 



Read, also, part of a valuable physiological paper, on the mammary 

 organs of the Kangaroo, by John Morgan, Esq. F.L.S. 



Among the presents were two va- 

 luable additions to the Society's New 

 Holland collection, namely, a stuffed 

 specimen of that curious quadruped, 

 the Diadelphis wrsina {Linn. Tran.y vol. 

 ix. tab. 1 9.), vulgarly called the Botany 

 Bay Devil {fig- 42.), and a remarkable 

 new species of Falco, with a crest ; both 

 presented by Mr. B. Leadbeater, F.L.S. 

 Captain Ross, R.N. F.L.S., presented a small collection of dried plants, 

 formed by himself in the late arctic expedition under Captain Parry. 



Geological Societj/. — The anniversary of this institution, established, as 

 its charter states, " to investigate the mineral structure of the earth,*' 

 was held on the 1 5th of February. An address on the occasion was de- 

 livered from the chair, by W. H. Fitton, M.D. F.R.S. &c., the president, 

 which will be found at length in the Philosophical Magazine for April. The 

 leading feature of the address is the state of geology in Britain, though no- 

 tice is also taken of the progress of the science in other countries. Refer- 

 ence is made to the printed Proceedings of the Society, and their Transac- 

 tions, as the best records of the Society's contributions to geological science 

 during the year. The Society are congratulated on the progress which has 

 been made in the trigonometrical survey of Ireland, because the greatest 

 benefit is derived to geology from good maps. The effective establishment 

 of a Zoological Society is another source of gratification, because to the 

 geologist it is of great importance to have ready access to cabinets, and to 

 living specimens, in order to elucidate fossil remains of animals and plants. 

 The fossil remains of the vegetable kingdom do not occupy, the President 

 thinks, a just share of the attention of the botanists of England. " The 

 distribution of plants upon the former surfaces of the globe, — its relation 

 to the epochs of geological deposition, — the variations it may have 

 undergone from change of climate, either by alteration of internal tempe- 

 rature, or of elevation above the sea — the former existence of vegetation 

 in the more complex forms, in tracts where scarcely any traces of it 



