48 SPOLIA ZEYLANIOA. 



THE CEYLON NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



Fourth General Meeting. 



The Fourth Gensral Meeting of the Society was held in the 

 Colombo Musemxi, on Tuesday, December 17, 1912, at 5.30 p.m., 

 when Rev. P. T. Cash presided, in the absence of the President. 

 Mr. W. E. Wait read a Paper on " The Eggs and Nesting Habits 

 of Ceylon Birds."* 



Mr. Frederick Lewis read a Paper on " The Vegetation of the 

 Hali-ela Tank." The subject of the PajDer referred to the vege- 

 tation which sprang up after the bursting of the tank. The tank 

 had previously been full of water for 40 years, and the Paper 

 dealt with the types of plants which arose from the bottom of 

 the tank after this period of inundation. 



Dr. Oliver R. Pereira read a short Paper on "The Devil Bird," 

 identifying the bird with the Moimtain Hawk-Eagle. An 

 interesting discussion arose, in which it was maintained that 

 the Devil Bird was an owl, namely, the Brown Wood-Owl. 



Dr. Pearson read two notes by Mr. W. Ormiston on " Blood- 

 sucker Lizards eating snaall Birds," and " The Length of Life of 

 Butterflies." 



Several interesting exhibits were made of eggs, &c., in connec- 

 tion with the Papers read. 



First Anniversary Meeting. 



The First Anniversary Meeting (Fifth General Meeting) of the 

 Society was held in the Colombo Museum, on Friday, February 

 28, at 5.30 p.m., with Mr. F. M. Mackwood, the President, in the 

 Chair. 



The Secretary read the progress report for the year 1912, which 

 was adopted. 



The following officers were elected for the ensuing year : — 



President. — ^F. M. Mackwood. 



Vice-Presidents. — V. A. Julius, Sir S. D. Bandaranaike ; D. 

 Andreas Nell. 



Council.— Vi. N. Lyne, T. Petch, W. E. Wait, O. S. Wickwar. 



Joint Secretaries and Treasurers. — Dr. Joseph Pearson, and 

 W. A. Cave. 



The President read a Paper on " The Distribution of Ceylon 



Butterflies."! 



Mr. Gilpin Brown read a Paper on " Some First Principles of 

 Microscopy," in which he dealt with certain fundamental aspects 

 of the science of microscopy. 



The President exhibited several interesting series of butterflies 

 in connection with his Paper. 



* Printed in full on p. 21 of the present number of " Spolia Zeylanica." 

 t Printed in full on p. 36 of the present issue of " Spolia Zeylanica." 



