124 PROCEEDINGS OF TUE 



Mr. J. Starkie Gardner exhibited a large collection of Fossil 

 Plants from the island of Mull. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. " Contributions to the History of certain Species of Coni- 

 fers." By Dr. Maxwell Masters, F.L.S. 



2. " Description of Strongylus Axei, with Eemarks on its 

 Affinities." By Professor T. Spencer Cobbold, F.L.S. 



3. "Remarks on some Fossil Leaves from the Island of Mull, 

 Scotland." By J. Starkie Gardner, F.L.S. 



February 4th, 1886. 



Sir John Lubbock, Bart., President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 



Mr. James Dallas exhibited a specimen of the Glossy Ibis 

 (PJeffadis falcinelhis, L.), which was purchased last spring from 

 Mr. James H. Clyde of Bradworthy Vicarage, near Holdsworthy, 

 Devon, in whose possession, or that of his family, it had been 

 from the time it was killed in the neighbourhood. It is men- 

 tioned by Morris in his ' British Birds,' vol. iv. p. 178, as fol- 

 lows :— " In the ' Western Times ' of Oct. 11th, 1851, it was 

 recorded that a specimen of this exceedingly rare and interesting 

 British visitor was shot at Holdsworthy in North Devon a few 

 days before the above date ; it was on the 7th September." 

 Tliis specimen has now been deposited in the Albert Memorial 

 Museum, Exeter. There is another specimen of this bird in 

 the collection, in which the beak is more curved. It is said to 

 have been shot at South Moulton, October 1851, and was pre- 

 sented to the Museum by Mr. William Toombs. 



Mr. Fi'ederick J. Ilanbury exliibited and made remarks on a 

 sei'ies of forms of the genera Hieraciuin and Carex obtained 

 by him on the coasts of Caithness and Sutherland last autumn, 

 all being new to the British Flora, and representatives of Scan- 

 dinavian plants. Among them were H. norvegicum, Fr., and 

 its var.farinosa, Carex aquatilis, A^ahl, var. cuspidata, Laeshted., 

 C. rigida, Good, var. infer-alpina, Laeshted., and others, besides a 

 large form of Euphrasia from Reay Links, Caithness. 



Mr. Clarence Bartlett exhibited a remarkable specimen of 

 Caterpillar about 7 inches long, of a steel-grey colour, hairy and 

 spiny, which he believed to have been brought from Africa. 



Mr. W. H. Beeby drew attention to an example of Equi- 

 setum litorale, Kuhlewein, gathered by him on Bisley Common, 

 Surrey, a species new to Britain. 



f. Mr. John C. Sawer exhibited an example of a superior sort of 

 the essential oil of Lavandula vera, and a specimen spike of the 



