344 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
carrier pigeon circled round to an altitude of about half a mile, and then 
sailed away towards London. By this time the train, which carried the 
European mails, and was timed not to stop between Dover and Cannon- 
street, had got up to full speed, and was proceeding at the rate of sixty 
miles an hour towards London. The odds at starting seemed against the 
bird, and the railway officials predicted that the little messenger would be 
beaten in the race. The pigeon, however, as soon as it ascertained its 
bearings, took the nearest homeward route in a direction midway between 
Maidstone and Sittingbourne, the distance, “as the crow flies,” between 
Dover and London being 70 miles, and by rail 764 miles. When the Con- 
tinental mail express came into Cannon-street Station, the bird had been 
home 20 minutes, having beaten Her Majesty's Royal Mail by a time 
allowance representing 18 miles.—F’rom ‘ The Times,’ July 14th. 
Rare British Fisues orF BassicomBe.—One of the rarest of British 
fishes—-the Black-fish, Centrolophus pompilus—was taken this morning 
(June 15th) off Babbicombe, by Mr. Gaskin, of that place. It is curious 
that the seine inclosed at the same time another fish of great rarity, 
the Short Sun-fish, Orthagoriscus mola. Both were submitted to me for 
identification —P. H. Gossu (Sandhurst, Torquay). 
(The Black-fish is figured in Couch’s ‘Fishes of the British Islands’ 
(vol. ii. p. 123, pl. xc.), and all the specimens mentioned by that author seem 
to have been met with in Cornwall. He states, however, on the authority 
of Mr. Joshua Alder, that an example has been taken at Cullercoats. The 
Short Sun-fish will also be found figured in the same work (vol. iv. p. 877, 
pl. cexly.). This strange-looking fish is generally spoken of as rare, but on 
the south and west coasts can scarcely be considered so, for hardly a year 
passes without the capture of a few being reported. They are generally 
taken during the warmer months of the year.—Ep. } 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
Linngean Socrery or Lonpon. 
June 7, 1877.—Prof. AttMann, I’.R.S., President, in the chair. : 
The first zoological paper read was by Mr. Robert M‘Lachlan, viz., 
“On the Nymph Stage of the Hmbide, with Notes on the Habits of the 
Family, &c.” The author stated that in 1837 Prof. Westwood (in Trans. 
Linn. Soc.) instituted the characters of Embia, a genus of insects allied to 
the white ant. Lately, therefore forty years after, Mr. Michael discovered 
some orchids partially destroyed by an insect found to belong to the 
Embide; and the nymph stage obtained fills a gap in its history. Mr. 
M‘Lachlan, in allusion to the insect’s habits, states that M. Lucas and 
