ProceeJinijs, 81 



Mr. Tyndall remarked that Garnets are found chiefly iu 

 Hornblende and Mica. They are found in England and 

 Scotland, though not in a very pure state. A form called 

 "grossularia" is found iu Russia. Garnets are composed of 

 about forty per cent, of silica, twenty per cent, of alumina, 

 some oxide of iron, and manganese ; they are usually twelve- 

 sided crystals. Opals are composed of eighty-five to ninety per 

 cent, of silex, and five to fifteen per cent, of water ; they are 

 not crystalline, and are soft ; they are not faced, but polished 

 with a rounded surface. Some eight varieties are known. 

 The Harlequin-Opal has the colour iu spots ; some Opals are 

 pale yellow. They are found iu South-Easteru Europe, in 

 the Ural district. 



Mr. Albert J. Crosfield read some ' Notes on Wild Fowl 

 SEEN IN Central Indlv ' : — 



On the southern side of the village of Hirankhera is a tank 

 about seventy-five acres in extent. On December 30th about 

 half this area was water and the other half mud, more or less 

 baked by the sun. The mud was ploughed into uneven 

 furrows by the Wild Boars, which, we were told, come by 

 night in herds of fifty or more to root up the rushes, on the 

 pithy parts of which they feed. The north-eastern end of the 

 tank is surrounded by a wall of earth to protect the village 

 against a flood. At the western end it floods somewhat 

 indefinitely during the rains, extending out towards cultivated 

 fields on the sides and towards the jungle behind. 



On the thrown-up bank are some fine Tamarind trees, then 

 covered with pods, and there is a "Phepar " {Ficus cordifolia), 

 under which, on a rough stone, is a rude painting in red of 

 "Hanuman," the monkey-god, distinguished by his long, red 

 taU. A wax-lik^ parasite, not wholly unlike our Dodder 

 grows freely on the Phepar. Wild Palms are scattered at 

 intervals round the lake, whilst a most graceful group of 

 seven stands on an islet. 



In some of the Palms are the nests of the Weaver-bird. 

 A nest, which we hooked down with a forked stick, was hunc^ 

 by its apex from a single leaflet of the Palm-leaf. It is made 



