November i8th, igoi.] PROCEEDINGS. ix 



{^Microscopical and Natural History Section.^ 



Ordinary Meeting, November i8th, 1901. 



Charlp:s Bailey, F.L.S., President of the Section, in the Chair. 



Mr. J. Fenwick Allen exhibited, on behalf of his son, 

 some tropical Lepidoptera. 



Mr. P. Cameron exhibited several fine Hymenoptera, 

 collected by Mr. J. Stanley Gardiner in the Laccadive and 

 Maldive Islands. Among them were many species new to 

 science, and recently described by Mr. Cameron. The following 

 letter, in conection therewith, was read : — 



" The collection of Hymenoptera which I send for exhibition 

 were collected by Mr. Stanley Gardiner, of Cambridge University, 

 who visited the islands under the auspices of the British Associa- 

 tion and the Royal Society Government Grant Committee. 

 The islands are interesting from their position in the Indian 

 Ocean, as being " stepping stones " between India and the East 

 Coast of Africa, and they may explain how the undoubted 

 Indian element of the East African fauna has got there. The 

 islands are small, are very flat, few of them being 15 feet above 

 the sea level, and are chiefly used for the cultivation of the 

 coco-nut palm, the annual value of which is said to amount to 

 about ;^i 3,000. They are situated near the equator. Until the 

 completion of Mr. Gardiner's book it is not possible to come to 

 any very definite conclusion regarding the fauna as a whole, 

 especially taking into consideration the fact that the East African 

 fauna as a whole is not very well known." 



Mr. J. C. Melvill showed the original MS. of Buxton's 

 Botanical Guide, published in 1849. The late Mr. E. W. 

 Binney, F.R.S., had long befriended the author, Mr. Richard 

 Buxton, and eventually became the possessor of this interesting 

 relic. He in turn bequeathed it to the late Mr. Thomas Rogers, 

 and from him it came into the possession of the exhibitor. 

 Mr. Melvill also read a short account of Buxton's life. 



