XXviii. PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



locks together the wings of hymenoptera (bees, wasps, &:c.) 

 when in flight, and states that the flying powers are strongest in 

 those species in which this is most developed. This may be so, 

 but it is certainly not the case in lepidoptera (butterflies and 

 moths), uith which I am more familiar, in which a structure (the 

 frenulum) having the same object is usually found, as some of 

 those in which it is wanting, such as the swifts and butterflies, 

 are very strong fliers, and the powers of flight of others certainly 

 bear no proportion to the development of the frenulum in the 

 difl"erent species. 



Further researches in regard to eels, whose life history is now 

 comparatively well known, show that after they have acquired 

 scales, which is about two years after they reach fresh water, 

 their age may be known by the number of concentric rings in 

 their scales, of which one is added annually. INIales assume the 

 silvery breeding dress and descend the rivers at from 4I to j^ 

 years, and females from 6| to 8| years after they first enter fresh 

 water. The age of plaice and perhaps other fish can also be 

 determined by the number of rings on the otolith or ear-stone. 

 I will begin my notes on birds with a record, for which my 

 authority is the Borsef Comity Chronicle of February 6th last, of 

 the death, by an accident, of a goose belonging to Mr. J. F. 

 Hocking, of St. Cleer, at the age of 53, which had brought up a 

 family the year before. It is stated that a careful record had 

 been kept of its age. Parrots and doubtless some other birds are 

 I believe very long lived. The haunts of the Californian condor 

 {Gymnogyps caIifoniia?ius) have been visited and interesting 

 details, with photographs, obtained. One eg^ only is laid in a 

 season and the young develop very slowly. The old birds 

 allowed a near approach without alarm. A golden eagle has 

 been killed in Dorset. The rufi" has been observed to breed in 

 Norfolk after the lapse of 18 years, and a specimen of the 

 Sardinian warbler {Sylvia viclanocephala), a new species to the 

 British list, has been killed at Hastings. Much has lately been 

 written about luminous owls, and it is believed that the luminosity 

 is derived from phosphorescent decaying wood sticking to their 



