The Zoologist — June, 1874. 4039 



more in number, and altogether more evidently embryonic and Lacertian 

 than the homologous parts of other birds. The writer therefore seeks to 

 introduce a new morphological term for these birds as a group, having 

 relation to their face, namely, the term ' Saurognathas ; ' for none of Pro- 

 fessor Huxley's terms is appropriate for this type of palate. The writer has 

 been able to work out these parts in the nestlings of Yunx torquilla, in four 

 stages of Gecinus viridis, in the young of Picus minor, and in the adult of 

 P. major, P. analis, Hemilophus fulvus and Picumnus minutus." 



Ajml 16, 1874.— H. Trimen, Esq., M.B., in the chair. 



A letter was read from Prof. Parlatore, of Florence, inviting the Society 

 to send representatives to the International Horticultural and Botanical 

 Congress to be held in that city in May. On the motion of Mr. A. Murray, 

 seconded by Prof. Thiselton Dyer, Dr. Masters, Mr. George Maw and 

 Mr. Hiem were accredited by the Society to the Congress. 



Mr. A. Murray exhibited some remarkable specimens of silicified wood 

 from N.W. America, one of which had a peculiar charred appearance. 

 Prof. Thiselton Dyer retoarked that Mr. Murray's specimens were extremely 

 similar to the silicified wood of Lough Neagh [Cupressoxylon Pritchardi). 

 The specimens with a deeply discoloured interior, he thought, had not neces- 

 sarily undergone anything like charriug from fire, but had probably been 

 partially converted into lignite by slow decay before silicification. The 

 Lough Neagh wood was attributed to the Miocene, but the fragments were 

 found imbedded, like Mr. Murray's specimens, in a clay, and this was of late 

 Tertiary age. Prof. Busk compared the substance to jet, and described a 

 bed of lignite in the North of France in which a similar phenomenon was 

 presented, the interior part of the wood being converted into charcoal, while 

 the exterior part retained its original condition. 



The following papers were then read, viz. : — " Contributions to the Botany 

 of H.M.S. 'Challenger' Expedition." Communicated by Dr. Hooker. 

 Nos. III. to XIV. " Notes on Freshwater Algae collected in the Boiling 

 Springs at Furnas St. Michael's, Azores, and their neighbourhood." 

 By Mr. H. N. Moseley. In the valley of Furnas are two distinct sets of 

 hot springs — one at the village, and the other at a distance of two or three 

 miles, on the shore of the lake. In the principal one of the springs at the 

 latter locahty ebullition is constantly going on, and no Algte were found in 

 it. At a short distance is another spring of sulphurous, intensely hot, but 

 not boiling, water ; and the water is here covered to the depth of almost one 

 inch and a half by a shining substance composed entirely of Oscillatorice 

 mixed with a Botryococcus and a few skeletons of Diatomacese, including a 

 species of Navicula. Close by these sulphurous springs are shallow pools 

 of hot water edged round with a Botryococcus. At the other set is a sul- 

 phurous spring of boiling-hot muddy water. Immediately below is- a 



