6 PB0CEEDING8 OF THE 



ploughing. It was remarkable that while the antlers of Hed 

 Deer at the present day showed a marked deterioration in size 

 and weight when compared with those obtained in a fossil state 

 in England, this was not the case with the Eoe Deer. He had 

 seen no fossil horns of the Eoe which were superior in size to 

 those of the same species procurable at the present time in 

 Scotland. The reason for this had not been explained. 



Mr. Horace Mouckton, F.L.S., exhibited specimens of a 

 common Freshwater Mollusc, Limncea peregra, collected by him at 

 the Howietoun Ponds, Selkirkshire, showing a variation from the 

 normal type in being more or less banded. The banding was 

 in every case confined to the last whorl of the shell, and often to 

 the outer portion of the whorl, although iu one or two cases it was 

 arrested before reaching the mouth of the shell. Mr. Monckton, 

 after describing the position and nature of the ponds referred 

 to, was inclined to attribute the variation in question to the 

 abundance of food supplied for the SalmonidcB reared there, and 

 to the absence of lime from the water. 



Mr. B. B. Woodward, F.L.S., exhibited a similar variation 

 in shells of LimncBa stagnalis, wherein the banding was longi- 

 tudinal—a peculiarity which had been recorded by Mr. T. D. 

 Cockerell. 



Sir James Gibson-Maitland, Bart., gave the results of an analysis 

 which had been made of the w^ater at Howietoun and Craigend, 

 with a view to determiue the bearing it might have on the grow^tli 

 of fish, and on variation in the shells of the Mollusca referred to. 



The Secretary read a letter from Mr. J. T. Johnson, of 

 Punchal, Madeira, commenting upon Dr. D. Morris's exhibition 

 (Nov. 5) of raphides conjposed of oxalate of lime in the bulbs of 

 hj'acinths, the handling of which had produced a form of eczema. 

 Mr. Johnson mentioned a parallel case in RicharcUa cetMopica, a 

 beautiful aroid known to gardeners as the Lily of the Nile. The 

 laundresses at Punchal had tried to utilize the starch obtainable 

 from the corms, but complained of the irritation in the hands 

 produced by it, which, on examination, was found to result from 

 the presence of numerous needle-shaped raphides, as in the case 

 of the hyacinth-bulbs referred to. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. " On the Origin of the Corpus callosum, a Comparative 

 Study of the Hippocampal Eegiou of the Cerebrum of Marsu- 

 pialia and certain Cheiroptera." By Gr. Elliot Smith, M.D. 

 (Communicated by Prof. George Bond Howes, E.L.S.) 



2. " On the Minute Structure of the Nervous System of the 

 Mollusca." By J. Gilchrist, M.A., B.Sc, Ph.D. (Communi- 

 cated by Mr. B. B. Woodward, F.L.S.) 



