2 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 



Mv. J . E. Harting exhibited a specimen of tbe American Yellow- 

 billed Cuckoo (Cuculus mnericanus), which had been picked up 

 dead in a garden at Bridport, Dorsetshire, on October 5th, as 

 recorded in 'The Zoologist' for October (p. 376), and gave some 

 account of its wanderings and previous occurrence in the British 

 Islands. As showing the means whereby land-birds sometimes 

 cross the Atlantic, he read a letter from Mr. Ealph Neilson of 

 Eulwood Park, Liverpool, dated October 31st, in which the writer 

 stated that during a recent voyage from Boston, Mass., in the 

 steamship ' Ottoman,' when off Cape Eace, ten or a dozen of these 

 birds came on board, and several of them were captured. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. " On Mimicry in Butterflies of the Genus Hypolimnas.'" By 

 Col. Chas. Swinhoe, F.L.S., F.E.S. 



2. "A Eevision of the Genus Pentns:' By G. F. Scott Elliot, 

 E.L.S. 



3 "An Account of tl^e Butterflies of the Genus Gharaxes." 

 By Dr. A. G. Butler, F.L.S. 



November 2 1st, 1895. 



Mr. J. G. Baker, F.E.S., Yice-President, in the Chair, 



The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 



His Grace Herbrand Duke of Bedford, Messrs. Bernard Arnold 

 and Edward Bernard Fernan were elected Felluws of the Society. 

 Mr. B. B. Woodward was admitted. 



The Eev. G. Henslow exhibited a MS. Common-place Book of 

 the latter end of the 14th century. The entries, in Latin and 

 English, were found to consist chiefly of medical recipes, in which 

 about 200 plants are named for their uses, and some methods of 

 distilling Aqua Vitce described. There were also notes on 

 Geometry and Astronomy, and some calculations of altitudes and 

 superficies. Mr. Baker thought the number of plants named at 

 the date referred to was a matter of some interest to botanists, 

 and suggested publication of the list of names, with their identi- 

 fication where possible. 



Mr. Henslow also exhibited a series of shells of Buccinum 

 tmdatum and Fusus antiquus, showing the variation in form which 

 occurs in the reparation of injury sustained at an early stage of 

 life, the subsequently renewed whorls assuming shapes re- 

 sembling those of other species in the same genus, and even in 

 other and very different genera. Usually the uninjured whorls 

 could be detected by the apex being of the normal character, but 

 in some cases the abnormality appeared to be congenital, being 

 carried completely into the apex. This appeared to the Exhibitor 



