Natural History in Scotland. 291 



6-maculUa, Lib^Uula 4-maculata, and L. depr^ssa, Adela degeer^lla, Thy-- 

 melc alveolus Steph.^ Chrysomfela graminis, Circopis sanguinol^nta. The 

 Apatura Tris was found in plenty in the larva state, in the same wood, at the 

 beginning of June. — C. C, Bahington. 7. Hanover Street^ Bath, July 8.1828. 



Art. IV. Natural History in Scotland, 



Wernerian Society. — Feb. 25. 1828. Read. Notice regarding a living 

 Ocelot, or i^lis Pardalis, from South America, communicated by James 

 Wilson, Esq. : the animal was a female, nearly of full size, had been almost 

 two years at Liverpool, and had lately been transferred to the menagerie of 

 the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park. The second part of Dr. R. 

 E. Grant's account of the Anatomy of the Perameles nasuta of New South 

 Wales, treating particularly of the organs of generation. 



March 8. Read. Notice of the wasting effects of the Sea, which liave 

 exposed a submarine forest on the shores of Cheshire, between the rivers 

 Mersey and Dee ; by Robert Stevenson, Esq., civil engineer. Two memoirs; 

 1. on the Mines of the Higher Pyrenees ; 2. on the Marbles of the Higher 

 Pyrenees. On the Forked Hake of Pennant, which had been cast ashore 

 near St. Andrew's in a storm ; by the Rev. John Macvicar, A.M. : a drawing 

 of the fish, by Mr. Macvicar, was also exhibited. On keeping entire the 

 crystals of efflorescent and also of deliquescent Salts, by means of surround- 

 ing them with an atmosphere formed from an essential oil, such as oil of 

 turpentine ; by Mr. Deuchar. 



March 22. Read. On the great fish that swallowed up Jonah, show- 

 ing that it could not be a whale, as often supposed, but was probably a 

 jSqualus Carcharias, or white shark ; by the Rev. Dr. Scot, of Corstorphine. 

 At this Meeting was also read the first part of a memoir on the Lunar 

 Compass, &c. ; by Mark Watt, Esq. 



April 5. Read. Remainder of the paper on the Lunar Compass ; by 

 Mr. Mark Watt. Memoir on the shefifon of Moses (Gen. xlix. 17.), or the 

 adder of the English translators ; by the Rev. Dr. Scot. Notice of the great 

 Oak of Cowthorpe, in Yorkshire, illustrated by a drawing ; by Thomas 

 Johnson, Esq. 



The Plinian Society. — Since the dissolution of the Natural History So- 

 ciety in 1812, till the Plinian Society was founded in the year 1825, no 

 similar institution existed in Edinburgh, whose principal object was the 

 advancement of natural history. The Wernerian Society is not taken into 

 account, as it occupies a different station from the Plinian Society, among 

 the scientific institutions of Scotland. The progress which had been made in 

 the study of this science, and the zeal which was manifested for its promotion 

 by the students of the University, seemed at that period to warrant the 

 hope that the formation of such a society would be attended with success ; 

 and, accordingly, nearly forty members were enrolled during the first year 

 of its existence. The principal intention of the founders of the Plinian 

 Society was to promote natural history ; but antiquarian researches, and 

 the advancement of all the physical sciences, have also been included 

 amongst its professed objects. The means which have been adopted for 

 the prosecution of the views of the Society are, the reading of papers, 

 debates, the formation of a museum and library, and excursions to the. 

 country, for the examination and collection of objects of natural history. 

 Papers have been read on subjects connected with all the departments q£ 

 natural science, more especially on the zoology, botany, geology, mineralogy. 



