Zoological Society, 479 



be traced midway in the cliff, at an elevation quite out of the reach 

 of the cause which formed them. 



Lastly, the authors enter on some details as to the quantity of ele- 

 vation, proved by the phaenomena of recent marine deposits in differ- 

 ent parts of England. They state that the raised beaches of South 

 Devon and Cornwall indicate various changes of level, from ten to 

 forty feet, the phaenomena of depression, of which there are examples, 

 not being considered. That the greatest elevation in North Devon 

 seems to have been about 70 feet, while in Lancashire, Cheshire, and 

 Shropshire, there are murine deposits, containing also shells of existing 

 species, at various elevations of from 300 to 500 feet. The intensity 

 of elev.itory force seems therefore to have increased towards the north, 

 and perhaps reached its maximum among the Cumbrian mountains, 

 from which enormous masses of materials have drifted in various well- 

 known directions. 



The country of Siluria and South Wales, the detritus of which was 

 described by t\lr. Murchison on a former occasion, is of course spe- 

 cially exempted from the application of this inference j since that re- 

 gion has been shown to have been elevated at an antecedent period*. 



On the same evening, after the ordinary business of the Society 

 had terminated, a Special General Meetingbeingheld for the purpose of 

 electing two Secretaries in the place of William John Hamilton, Esq., 

 and Woodbine Parish, jun. Esq., who had retired from the office, the 

 scrutineers reported that Robert Hutton,Esq., and John Forbes Royle^ 

 M.D. F.L.S., were duly elected. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

 (Continued from p. 300.) 



November 8, 1836. — A letter, addressed to the Secretary, by Ro- 

 bert Mackay, Esq., the British Vice-Consul at Maracaibo, and a Cor- 

 responding Member of the Society, was read, describing the habits 

 of a Vulture {Vultur Papa, Linn.) forwarded to the Society for the 

 Menagerie, hut which had unfortunately died during the voyage. 



After noticing the peculiar habit attributed to these birds, (which 

 frequently congregate to the number of three hundred,) of paying 

 deference to an individual differing from the rest in plumage, and 

 to which the inhabitants of Maracaibo give the title of king, Mr. Mac- 

 kay proceeds to scate : 



" These birds, in their flights, ascend to such a height as to be 

 lost sight of, and from their elevation, discover objects of prey. 



" They reside in the savannas of a warm and dry temperature ; 

 and their travels do not extend beyond five or six leagues of the 

 place where they have been bred. 



" They lay their eggs, and hatch their young, in the small con- 

 cavities of mountains. 



" At a distance from towns, villages, and frequented roads, they 



* Geol. Proceedings, Vol. IL p. 77; or Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag, 

 vol. viii. p. 566. 



