( 155 ) 

 SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



LiNNEAN Society of London. 



March 6, 1884. — Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.R.S., President, 

 in the chair. 



Dr. Augustus B. Shepherd and Mr. James Dallas were elected Fellows, 

 and Mr. William Hodgson, of Cumberland, an Associate of the Society. 



The President read a memorandum from the Foreign Office (received 

 through the Science and Art Department), announcing that an International 

 Ornithological Congress would be held in Vienna in the beginning of 

 April ne.\;t. 



There was exhibited, for Mr. T. E. Gunn, of Norwich, a variety of the 

 common Moorhen, Oallinula chloropus, which had been shot last spring 

 near Norwich (see Zool. 1884, p. 8). 



Prof. St. G. Mivart read a paper " On the relations between the Instinct 

 and other Vital Processes." He contended that instinct cannot be divided 

 by any hard-and-fast line from such vital processes as reflex action, pro- 

 cesses of repair after injuries, and the process of development of the 

 individual ; and tiiat these latter were more readily explained as activities 

 especially instinctive, than that instinct could be explained by reflex action 

 or by lapsed intelligence. The vital processes referred to were also shown 

 to have an important bearing on the question of the origin of the species. 



Prof T. S. Cobbold gave a verbal account of a paper received from 

 Dr. P. Manson, of Hong Kong, in which the author furnished fresh evidence 

 as to the role of the Mosquito, considered as the intermediary host oi Filaria 

 saiKjuinis-hominis. Dr. Manson has verified his previous observations in 

 the most complete manner, and he now recognises and describes six well- 

 marked stages in the growth of the Filaria whilst they are dwelling within 

 the body of the insect. The memoir was illustrated by drawings, photographs 

 and specimens sent by Dr. Manson. 



At the close of the paper. Dr. T. R. Lewis spoke at considerable length, 

 confirming Dr. Manson's statements in many particulars. 



March 20, 1884.— Henry T. Stainton, Esq., F.R.S., Vice-President, 

 in the cliair. 



The Rev. Canon James Baker, Mr. W. Brockbank, Mr. Robert Mason, 

 aud Mr. Edward A. Heath were elected Fellows of the Society. 



In illustration of his paper, " A Contribution to the Knowledge of the 

 Genus Anaphe, Walker," Lord Walsingham exhibited a large and remark- 

 able nest of a congregating moth, a species of the genus from Natal. It 

 contained a packed mass of cocoons, specimens of the larvse and of the 

 mature insect ; there likewise was shown a living example of a dipterous 



