1890,] Address. 47 



Of tlie Proceedings, edited by the General Secretary, Mr. Little, 

 10 numbers have been published. They contain, besides the interesting 

 reports on coins by Dr. Hoernle, several short papers, among which 

 may be noted Mr. W. L. Sclater's on a collection of Mammals from 

 Shahpur in the Panjab ; a note on the use of Alizarin Blue in photo- 

 graphing the red end of the Spectrum and of the new dye Rhodamine 

 for orthochromatic photography ; notes on Jay Mangalagarh, by Mr. 

 Asutosh Gupta, C. S., and on three new Hemoptera by M. L. Lathiery. 



Bibliotheca Indica. Good progress has been made in the publica- 

 tion of the works in hand in the Arabic and Persian, the Sanskrit and 

 the Tibetan series of the Bibliotheca Indica. Three new publications 

 have been taken in hand, viz., — the Tazuk-i-Jehdngiri, in the Arabic- 

 Persian, and the Mdrkandeya Ptirdna and Brihad-devata in the Sanskrit. 

 The Igdbdh and the Mimtakhabic-t-Tawdrikh, in the Arabic-Persian series, 

 and the Manu Tikd Sangraha and Sdmkhyd Sutra Vritti, in the Sanskrit 

 series, have been completed. 



Barrisal Guns. The Sub-Committee of the Society which was ap- 

 pointed in the previous year to investigate the causes of the mysterious 

 sounds known as Barrisal guns have submitted their report which was 

 published in the Proceedings for August. The Committee are of opinion 

 that the evidence is very strongly in favour of the sounds being closely 

 connected with the river banks. Mr. Manson's theory of echoes from the 

 river banks is supported by strong circumstantial evidence, and explains 

 many peculiarities noticed in connection with the sounds ; it at least 

 deserves, therefore, that effoi^ts should be made to disprove it. By thus 

 narrowing the enquiry it is more likely that some definite result may be 

 arrived at. Great credit is due to Mr. Little, our General Secretary, for 

 the labour he has devoted to this investigation and the working out of the 

 various observations. It is to be hoped that further attention may be 

 paid to the subject by skilled observers, and that we may now be able 

 to ascertain something moi-e definite as to the actual origin of the 

 sounds. 



Other Societies and Institutions. 



Microscopical Society. This Society has just published its second 

 annual report and appears to be making good progress under the President- 

 ship of Mr. Wood- Mason. Considerable additions have been made to 

 the Society's cabinet and a very complete gas microscope has been pre- 

 sented to the Society by Sir Henry S. Cunningham. Many interesting 

 papers have been read at the meetings. Among them — a note on the 

 sound-producing organs of Crustacea, with special reference to those of 

 the Stomatopoda, by the President. Descriptions of new microscopic ap- 



