228 THE ZOOLOGIS'I. 
The Rev. H. H. Higgins exhibited photographs of a large beetle, the 
Dynastes neptunus of Schénherr, and of an undetermined species of 
locust from Borneo. The latter has resemblances to the genus Pseudo- 
phyllus, but measures nine inches and a half in the expanse of its 
wings. 
A paper, “On the Geographical Distribution of the Gulls and Terns 
(Larid@),” was read by Mr. Howard Saunders. This group, comprising four 
subfamilies,—Sterning (Terns), Rhynchopsine (Skimmers), Larine (Gulls), 
and Stercorarine (Skuas),—notwithstanding wide marine dispersion, 
possesses several remarkable isolated forms. In numbers there are about 
fifty-three species of Terns and Skimmers, fifty Gulls, and six Skua Gulls. 
After entering into detail as regards various forms, their peculiarities of 
habit, and distribution, the author pointed out that the majority of the 
typical Lavine are found in the North Pacific, where alone the arctic and 
white primaried forms are connected, through Larus glaucescens, with the 
group which have distinctly barred primaries. In the same area, also, is it 
shown where the three-toed Rissa begins to deviate from the typical four- 
toed gulls, and the line of connection traced between the only two species 
with forked tails, Xema. Tere, also, can be traced the typical Hooded 
Gulls, of which L. ridibundus is the Palearctic representative, and which 
in L. glaucoides extends to the Magellan Straits, while in the eastern 
hemisphere it is not found beyond 10° N. lat. Moreover, in the North 
Pacific there obtains the peculiarly coloured Tern, Sterna aleutica, which 
connects the typical Sterne with the intertropical Sooty Terns, S. lunata, 
S. anastheta, and 8. fuliginosa. Of isolated groups, which have no apparent 
connection with the Pacific, may be mentioned the New Zealand Larus 
Bulleri and L. scopulinus, the Australian L. Nove-hollandia, and the South 
African LZ. Hartlaubi. In the Arctic region there are the two isolated 
specialized genera of Gulls, Pagophila and Rhodostethia (the Ivory Gull 
and Ross’s Gull), which are not known on the Pacific side; whilst amongst 
the Terns the intertropical genera, Nenia, Anous, and Gygis, although 
somewhat related among themselves, offer no particular points of union 
with the typical Sterninz. The bulk of the evidence collected by Mr. 
Saunders favours the idea that the North Pacific is probably the centre of 
dispersion of these chiefly oceanic or shore-frequenting birds. 
Mr. J. Clarke Hawkshaw next read— Notes on the action of Limpets 
(Patella) in sinking pits in, and abrading the surface of, the Chalk, at 
Dover.” ‘The author states the abrasions and finely-grooved hollows are 
made by the lingual teeth of the limpet when feeding on the fine coating 
of seaweed which covers the surface of the chalk between high and low 
water mark. He described the limpet’s track as generally of a zigzag 
pattern, and exhibited specimens. These bare patches vary from eight to 
fourteen inches square, and about a line deep. There is, moreover, a 
