338 



2. Zoological Society of London. 



6th June, 1882. The Secretary called the attention of the Meeting 

 to the curious way in which the young Cormorants lately hatched in the 

 Gardens were fed by the parent birds ; and exhibited a drawing by Mrs. Hugh 

 Blackburn illustrating this subject. — A communication was read from Prof. 

 St. George Mivart, F.R.S., containing a series of observations on certain 

 points in the anatomy of the Cat-tribe [Aeluroidea] . — Mr. Howard Saun- 

 ders read a paper on some Laridae collected by Capt. H.H. Markham, 

 R. N., on the coasts of Peru and Chili; comprising, amongst other rarities, 

 the third known example of the large Fork-tailed Gull [Xema furmtum) , a 

 species which had been vainly sought for on the Pacific coast of America for 

 upwards of thirty years. The author drew attention to the peculiarities di- 

 stinguishing the various species of Gulls found in the Pacific from those of 

 the rest of the globe; and pointed out that, owing to oceanic currents, the 

 connexion between the species now only found on opposite sides of the 

 equator had evidently been much more recent in the Pacific than in the 

 Atlantic. — Prof. F. Jefi"rey Bell read a paper containing an attempt to 

 apply a method of formulation to the species of the Comatulidae, and added 

 the description of a new species, which he proposed to call Activometm annu- 

 lata. — Mr. Francis Day, F.Z.S., read some notes on the supposed identity 

 of a specimen of a fish determined by Dr. Günther as Anguilla Kieneri with a 

 Gadoid Lycodes. — Mr. E.J. Mi er s read the second portion of his paper 

 on the Crustaceans received by the British Museum from the Mauritius; and 

 called special attention to what appeared to be a variety of Palinurus longi- 

 manus of the West Indies which occurred in it. — Mr. W. A. F orb e s read 

 the fifth of his series of papers on the anatomy of Passerine birds. The pre- 

 sent communication was devoted to the consideration of the structure of the 

 genus Orthonyx, which was shown to be a true Oscinine form. — Mr. H. J. 

 Elwes exhibited and made remarks on a Stonechat [Saxicola] which he had 

 obtained during a recent expedition to the Aures Mountains of Algeria. — 

 The Secretary exhibited a series of the diurnal and nocturnal Lepidopte- 

 rous insects bred in the Insect House in the Gardens during the present sea- 

 son. — P. L. S dater. Secretary. 



3. Linnean Society of London. 



4th May, 1882. — Sir J. Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., President in 

 the Chair. — A Resolution of Council was read embodying the Society's 

 sense of the loss sustained by the death of Mr. Chas. Darwin, and ex- 

 pressing sympathy with the family in their bereavement. — A paper was 

 read on the discovery of Remains of the Great Auk [Alca impennis] in the 

 Island of Oronsay, Argyllshire, by Mr. Symington Grieve. A series of 

 wing and leg bones of this bird were obtained along with a various assort- 

 ment of remnants of Guillemot, Red Deer, Marten, Otter, Sheep, Rat, Rabbit 

 Common Seal, Pig, Wrasse, Mullet, Skate, Crabs and several Kinds of 

 Mollusks. These were dug out of a large cone shaped Mound, believed by the 

 author at one time to have been occupied by Man. Remains of the Gare 

 fowl have only once before been recorded as found in Britain. — A com- 

 munication followed by Mr. P. H. Gosse dealing with the Clasping Organs 



