LIXSEAIT SOCIETY OF LOXDOX. 77 



mandible, and altliougb tlie bird was apparently in good bealtb 

 at the time it was shot by Captain Phillott at Dera, Ismail 

 Khan, Punjab, in March last, it was evident that had it not 

 been killed then, death must soon have ensued from a severance 

 of the trachea by the sharp extremity of the prolonged 

 mandible- 

 Mr. D. Morris exhibited specimens of plants yielding Sissal 

 Hemp from the Bahamas and Yucatan, and pointed out their 

 distribution and mode of growth. He also exhibited and de- 

 scribed the preparation of a gut-silk from Formosa and 

 Kiungchow. 



Mr. Scott Elliot gave a brief account of a journey he had 

 recently made to the West Coast of Africa, and described the 

 character of the vegetation of the particular region explored and 

 the plants collected by him. 



Mr. .Tenner "Weir exhibited and made some remarks on a species 

 of Psyche. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. " On the Digappearance of Desert-Plants in Egypt." B\' 

 E. A. Eloyer, E.L.S. 



2. "Further Studies on Insect Colours." By Frank Hill 

 Perry Coste, E.L.S. 



A demonstration with the oxy-hydrogen lantern recently pre- 

 sented to the Society by Dr. Eichard C. A. Prior then took place, 

 a number of slides of birds illustrating the subject of mimicry and 

 protective coloration being shown by Dr. E. Bowdler Sharpe. 



June IGtb, 1892. 



Prof. Chaeies Stewabt, President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 



Messrs. Francis Joseph Clarke, Theodore Cooke, and James 

 Mellor were elected Fellows. 



Mr. F. Enock exhibited some specimens of the Mustard 

 Beetle, and gave an account of its recent depredations as ob- 

 served by himself. So numerous was it, that in walking down a 

 single row of mustard, a distance of sixty-five yards, he had 

 captured with a butterfiy-net upwards of 15,000, as he subse- 

 quently ascertained by counting a portion and weighing the 

 remainder. The crop of mustard thus afl'ected he regarded as 

 entirely destroyed. 



Mr. E. I. Poccck exhibited and made some remarks upon a 

 species oi Peripatus {P. juliformis) from St. Vincent, of which 

 five specimens had been collected by Mr. U. H. Smith for the 



