260 Linncean Society. 



and therefore the most likely to repay his labours by the number or 

 rarity of the specimens to be obtained. Skins of fifty-two species of 

 birds w^ere brought home, besides skins of six Rein Deer, three spe- 

 cies of Seals, two large Fishes (^A/iarrhicas), and a Porpoise. 



Frederick Faber in his Ornithology of Iceland, published at Copen- 

 hagen in 1822, enumerates eighty-four species of birds; of which 

 about twenty are land birds, and sixty water birds. J'aber adopted the 

 nomenclature of Linnaeus, but an examination of the skins brought 

 home by Mr. Proctor has led to the belief that several of Faber's 

 birds are not identical with the Linnean species. The Iceland 

 Falcon is considered by Mr. Hancock* as distinct from the w^hiter 

 falcon of Greenland. The Iceland Grouse is correctly considered 

 by Faber as peculiar to that island. The Bridled Guillemot, Uria 

 lacrymans, Lapyl., is for various reasons believed to be a species 

 distinct from the Common Guillemot, Uria Troile, Lath. Clangula 

 Barrovii was found breeding on the ground in a nest formed of 

 its own down, and placed among aquatic plants a little above high- 

 water mark. Some rare eggs were also obtained, namely, those of 

 the Iceland Falcon, Little Auk, Bridled Guillemot, and Sclavonian 

 Grebe. 



Read also a paper, *' On the Structure and Development of 

 the Reproductive organs of Pilularia globulifera." In a letter to 

 R. H. Solly, Esq., F.R.S. and L.S. By William Valentine, Esq., 

 F.L.S. 



The author observes, that the involucrum of Pilularia glohulifera 

 contains two kinds of bodies, which, however, occupy distinct sacs ; 

 one kind are round, very numerous, and minute, not larger than the 

 460th part of an inch ; they are found principally in the upper part 

 of the involucrum, and are about forty in each sac. The other kind 

 are of an oblong pyriform shape, a little constricted near the middle, 

 with a conical projection at one extremity, and are much less nu- 

 merous, about sixty, and occur singly in each sac ; they are about 

 the 80th part of an inch broad, and have the power of germination, 

 which the former kind do not appear to possess. Both kinds are 

 loose in their sacs, and have an opake, pure white, minutely granular, 

 testaceous covering, and are imbedded in a kind of gelatin, which 

 softens and expands by the action of water, but is not completely 

 dissolved. The larger bodies, the undoubted sporules, after a very 

 slight maceration in water, (less than a minute is sufficient,) are en- 



* See Mr. Hancock's paper on this subject in the * Annals of Natural 

 History,' vol. ii. p. 211. 



