8 PROCEEDINGS OP THE 



Eebruary ISth, 1897. 



Dr. D. H. Scott, E.E.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 



Sir William Eoberts, Mr. J. M. Lowson, and Mr. W. H. Betts 

 were admitted, and the Hon. Charles Ellis and Mr. George Edward 

 Lodge were elected Fellows of the Society. 



Mr. J. E. Harting exhibited under a glass case the nest of a 

 Wren built of moss in the dried body of a Eook which had been 

 hung up as a scarecrow in Gloucestershire. Similar instances 

 of the kind had been recorded (Essex Nat. ii. 205 & iii. 25). He 

 called to mind the nest of a Swallow in the dead body of an Owl 

 mentioned by Gilbert White, and referred to other cases which 

 had been recorded by a former president of the Society (Bishop 

 Stanley) . Eor instances of nests of the Hoopoe placed in the 

 desiccated bodies of unburied men, he referred to the experience 

 of Pallas in Eussia and of Swinhoe in China. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. " On some Points in the Anatomy and Morphology of the 

 NymplicBacece" By D. T. Gwynne-Yaughan, B.A. (Communi- 

 cated by Dr. Dukinfield H. Scott, E.E.S., E.L.S.) 



2. " On the Adhesive Discs of Ercilla volulilis, A. Juss." By 

 J. H. Burrage, M.A., E.L.S. 



March 4th, 1897. 



Dr. A. GuNTHEE, E.E.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 



The Eev. H. Bride Barber was elected a Fellow of the Society. 



Mr. W. Carruthers, F.E.S., exhibited, with the aid of lantern- 

 slides, a series of portraits of Linnaeus, and gave some account of 

 the history of each. In the course of a tour which he had made 

 in Sweden and Holland, he had been fortunate enough not only 

 to see the original paintings, but also to obtain photographs of 

 them, so that he was now able to exhibit exact copies. Putting 

 aside " supposed portraits," and such as might be termed " fancy 

 portraits " having no claim to authenticity, he had satisfied him- 

 self of the existence of eight that were certainly painted or drawn 

 from life, and had been copied more or less frequently by different 

 engravers. The earliest of these was painted by Hoffman in 

 1737, while Linnseus was working for his patron Clifford at Harte- 

 camp, and represents him at the age of 30 in the picturesque dress 

 in whicK he travelled through Lapland. Of the next portrait, 



