Royal Society. 145 
can hardly wonder at its general apathy on this subject. All the 
- more credit, therefore, to those who have so laudably aided in the 
publication of the ‘ Fishes of Zanzibar !’ 
That the value of this work will be fully recognized by the scien- 
tific there need be no doubt ; we therefore deem it less necessary for 
us to expatiate upon it. It will be sufficient to quote from the “ In- 
troduction,” that hitherto 
No attempt has been made to illustrate the Fish-fauna of that large 
extent of coast stretching between the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb and 
Mozambique. The labours of Lieut.-Colonel Playfair go far to supply 
this hiatus. In the course of a residence of many years at Aden and 
Zanzibar, during which he made frequent excursions to the African coast 
and the adjacent islands, he formed a considerable collection of Fish, of 
which the following pages contain a description. 
_ This collection contains 500 distinct species, obtained in the following 
localities :— 
: MOMIPRE 8 sk cee ee oy i ae 
; BEGERINUG a eee” bee 
preretiee 5 eee ae ae 
meron Inmavida 0) Ge Beis eit ae 
peaen and ste vicitity 22 ose 0 8B 
Chagos archipelago . . 1 
We have thought it advisable that there should be only one authority 
for new species, on which account each of the authors has attached his 
name to a moiety of the work; but it must not be imagined that we have 
worked otherwise than jointly and continuously throughout. 
In conclusion, we have only to offer our thanks to the joint authors 
of this work. Dr. Giinther will of course pursue the noiseless tenor 
of his way, and continue to earn the gratitude of all zoologists by his 
unwearied labours ; while Col. Playfair, we can scarcely doubt, will 
find at his new post something to glean, even though the officials of 
the “‘ Exploration Scientifique de lAlgérie” have been harvesting 
before him. May they again join forces to produce another work as 
satisfactory as the ‘ Fishes of Zanzibar!’ 
PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
ROYAL SOCIETY. 
December 5, 1867.—Dr. William Allen Miller, Treasurer and 
Vice-President, in the Chair. 
“On some Alterations in the Composition of Carbonate-of-Lime 
_ Waters, depending on the influence of Vegetation, Animal Life, 
_ and Season.” By Roserr WarRINGTON, F.R.S., F.C.S. 
| In carrying out through a series of years the principles of the 
aquarium for sustaining animal life in a confined and limited por- 
tion of water through the medium of growing vegetation *, I had 
observed that, during the summer months of the year, a consider- 
* Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society, vol. iii. pi 52. 
