Ixxxiv. Proceedings. 



Convolvuli ; Dr. T. Parsons, collection of Mosses from Mont- 

 gomery and our own district ; Mr. W. L. Sergeant, Lophopus 

 crystallina, under the microscope ; Dr. Hobson, Nerve Cor- 

 puscles, from spinal cord of man and horse ; Mr. A. D. Taylor, 

 section of Camphor wood, under the microscope ; Mr. CoUyer, 

 specimens of Lepidoptera from the Croydon district. 



Ordinary Meeting, i6th November, 1881. 

 Philip Crowley, Esq., F.Z.S., President, in the chair. 



The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. 



The receipt was announced of " Science Gossip " for No- 

 vember, and of" Notes and observations of British stalk-e3'ed 

 Crustacea," from Mr. Edward Lovett. 



The President read a letter from Mr. Horniman, inviting 

 members to visit his museum at Forest Hill, and requested 

 intending visitors to forward their names to the secretary. 



John Flower, Esq., M.A., F.Z.S., read a paper " On the 

 Nesting of the Red-breasted Flycatcher (Muscicapa parva) 

 in Kent, in the summer of 1881," being the first known occa- 

 sion in England. Mr. Flower mentioned another interesting 

 fact which was observed in a garden adjoining the one in 

 which the Flycatchers nested. " Growing in this garden was a 

 small yew tree, and last winter it was killed by the frost. It 

 was cut down and was going to be thrown awaj', but a stake 

 was wanted to support a young pear tree, and the yew 

 happened to be about the right size for the stake. The boughs 

 and top of the yew tree were cut off, and there remained a fork 

 of the yew tree which was put against the stem of the pear 

 tree, and the other end driven into the ground. I went to see 

 the tree, and found that the whole of the pear tree above the 

 point where the yew stake touched it was dead, and not only 

 that but every bough that had touched the yew stake was dead 

 above the point where it was touched. It looked as if the yew 

 stake had acted like a hot iron to the pear tree, and had killed 

 everything it came in contact with." 



Mr. Flower exhibited a fine stuffed specimen of the Duck- 

 billed Platypus (Ornithorynchus paradoxus), one of the 

 many peculiar forms which are found only in Australia ; 

 and explained that the Mammals found on that continent, 

 and on the islands immediately to the north of it, belong 

 only to two orders, the Marsupials, which comprise the 

 Kangaroos and allied animals, and the Monotremes, to 

 which order the Platj'pus belongs. He further described the 

 general characteristics df the Marsupials, and explained that 

 the animals of that order, and of the order Monotremata, are 

 now found nowhere except in Australia, and they have this 



