NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 289 



II. — Notes on the occurrence near Glasgow of the Kingfisher ', Alcedo 

 ispida, Lin. By Mr. James Steel. 



The author stated that on 23rd September last he had observed 

 an example of the Kingfisher on the Clyde at Cambuslang, and a 

 pair near the railway bridge above the Clyde Ironworks. He was 

 informed by Mr. J. M. Campbell that a specimen had been obtained 

 on the Rouken burn, near Thornliebank, and Mr. James J. F. X. King 

 had also observed this beautiful bird on the Kelvin at the Botanic 

 Gardens. Mr. James S. Dixon, in a paper read before the Society 

 on " The Birds frequenting Possil Marsh," * remarks : — " During 

 the winter of 1864 I several times saw the Kingfisher {Alcedo ispida) 

 fishing for sticklebacks, and darting along the surface of the ditches 

 which intersect and flow from the Possil Marsh and the neighbour- 

 ing Lochburnie." 



30th January, 1883. 



Mr. John A. Harvie-Brown, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S., President, in the 

 Chair. 



Messrs. John Forsyth, 40 Dalmarnock Road, Parkhead, and 

 James Dalrymple Duncan, F.S.A. Scot., 211 Hope Street, were 

 elected Ordinary Members. 



Mr. D. Gregorson exhibited bifurcated fronds of Hart's-tongue, 

 Scolopendrium culgare, Sm., obtained from ferns in cultivation, and 

 he explained the manner in which the plants had been treated. In 

 the course of some discussion as to the probable causes of this 

 abnormal growth, Mr. James Ramsay stated that he had frequently 

 observed ferns, after producing for a time bifurcated fronds, return 

 at length to their original condition. Professor John Cleland, M.D., 

 F.R S., made some remarks on the tendency in animals and plants 

 to diverge from their ordinary forms. 



Mr. Peter Cameron exhibited some larvae and pupae preserved 

 by a new process, the medium used being a solution of chromic acid. 

 After describing the process, which consisted in steeping the larvae, 

 &c, in a weak solution of the acid for some days, he said that the 



* Proceedings, ii. 161. 



