80 Mr. J. G. Goodchild on 



off their obsidian weapons, that a shark or a sturgeon could have 

 been brought ashore with one of these flint hooks. These 

 restored hooks have no barb, but that is not important, as many 

 shell and bone and even iron hooks have none either. 



(Mr. Lovett here described in detail a large series of shell and 

 bone hooks from the South Sea Islands, as well as from North 

 America, tracing the alteration in form and the gradual intro- 

 duction of metal, referring also to hooks discovered in Swiss lake- 

 dwellings.) 



Coming now to the continent of Europe, and more especially 

 to this country, we do not find any very abundant traces of 

 hooks anterior to the iron age. This is probably owing to the 

 fact that metals were known and used in this region before any 

 other parts of the world. 



(Mr. Lovett concluded by a description of hooks of the iron 

 and steel period, explaining the peculiarities of many modern 

 hooks, and the curious forms and colours of "flies" used for 

 salmon fishing.) 



51. — Hawks and their Allies, with Notes on Hawking. 

 [Abstract.] 



By J. G. Goodchild, F.Z.S., F.G.S., Member of the British 

 Ornithologists' Union ; Geological Survey of England. 



(Bead April 8th, 1885.) 



The lecturer began by some observation upon the zoological 

 position of the birds of prey or Mtomorphce, based upon the 

 researches of Huxley, Parker, Garrod, Forbes, Nitzsch, and 

 others, and illustrated his remarks by reference to various tables 

 and diagrams upon the screen. Contrary to the view generally 

 held, the lecturer maintained the opinion that the Ji,tomorph(B, 

 although undoubtedly presentmg many points of agreement 

 amongst themselves in regard to both their external characteristics 

 and their mode of life, do not form a really natural group like 

 the Passeres or the Psittaci, but that the group really comprises 

 several assemblages of raptorial forms evolved independently, 

 and at various times in the past, from widely-separated Saurop- 

 sidan ancestors. He regarded their present outward similarity 

 of form as due to morphological convergence accompanying 

 progressive adaptation to a common mode of life. The earlier 

 stages of changes of habit likely eventually to lead to such out- 

 ward changes of form as those referred to may be observed in 

 many widely- separated forms of birds at the present day. It is 

 quite conceivable, for example, that one of the Passeres, such as 

 a shrike, might, under particular conditions of environment, take 



