114 Annals of the Philosophical Club 



of moisture in the air than on any other cause. This, he 

 thought, accounts for cotton being chiefly cultivated near 

 the coast, or, at any rate, in districts where vapour-laden 

 winds are prevalent. In Egypt or in the great river valleys 

 of Central India, irrigation might produce the same effect. 



At the 3ist meeting (June *), Mr. Grove again referred 

 to the illumination of the mountains of the moon, stating 

 that one of them, in four days, might change in aspect 

 from a bright to a dark spot, after which Dr. Royle read a 

 letter from Dr. Jameson announcing the discovery in the 

 Punjab of an extension of the Salt Range to the north-east ; 

 another from Mr. Adam referring to a collection of Punjab 

 birds which he was forming, and a third from Mr. Fortune 2 

 stating that he had despatched to India from the coast 

 of China tea plants and seeds, and that upwards of 2000 of 

 the former had arrived in safety. 



The 32nd meeting (Oct. 24) was signalized by Sir C. Lyell's 

 announcement that a stuffed specimen of Dinornis, hitherto 

 known only from skeletons, had been found among a collec- 

 tion of birds recently received from New South Wales, 

 This corresponded very nearly with the form inferred from 

 the bones. 3 He also stated that another mammalian jaw 

 had been obtained from the Stonesfield slate. 4 



Colonel Sabine gave an account of Regnault's hygrometer 



1 Day of month omitted in Minute. 



2 Robert Fortune (1813-1880) visited China for the Horticultural Society 

 in 1842, and for the East India Company in 1848 ; also Formosa and Japan 

 in 1853 ; he introduced several well-known plants into England, was 

 active in promoting the culture of tea hi India, and published accounts 

 of his journeys. 



8 There is some mistake here. The specimen in any case must have 

 originally come from New Zealand, for the moa has not been found in 

 Australia. The moa also has not been seen by any European, though it 

 probably has not been long extinct. Can the apteryx be the foundation of 

 the story ? 



* It is difficult to identify this specimen. Owen, Fossil Mammals of 

 the Oolite Formations (Palaeont. Soc. 1870), p. 12, enumerates three specimens 

 of Amphitherium Prevostii, one of A. Broderipii and one of Phascolotherium, 

 as described by him in or before 1846. A fourth, Stereognathus ooliticus, 

 also described by him, was noticed in 1854 (British Association). Possibly 

 this may be the above-mentioned specimen, though it had been found some 

 years earlier. 



