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-faima 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 

 whicli the following pages contain a description. 



This collection contains 500 distinct species, obtained in the followin'>- 

 localities : — 



At Zanzibar 428 



Mozambique 10 



Seychelles 27 



Comoro Islands 11 



Aden and its vicinity 2.S 



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 aU 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 I'Algerie " have been harvesting 

 before him. May they again join forces to produce another work as 

 satisfactory as the ' Fishes of Zanzibar ! ' 



PEOCEEDINGS 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 Robert Warington, 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. p. 52. 



