SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 261 



of insects and plants. In 1875 Forbes transferred his residence to London, 

 and entered himself as a student of Loudon University with the idea of 

 taking a medical degree in the metropolis. By the advice of the late 

 Prof. Garrod aud other friends Mr. Forbes was induced in October, 1876, 

 to leave Loudon and to become an undergraduate of St. John's College, 

 Cambridge, where he was subsequently elected Scholar, and took his B.A. 

 degree with a First Class in the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1879. The 

 post of Prosector to the Zoological Society of London having become vacant 

 in October, 1879, by the lamented death of Prof. Garrod, Mr. Forbes was 

 appointed to that office in the January following. Mr. Forbes entered upon 

 the duties of his office with characteristic energy, and during the three 

 following sessions of the Zoological Society brought before the scientific 

 meetings a series of valuable communications derived from his studies of 

 the animals that came under his examination. He especially directed 

 himself to the muscular structure and voice organs oi birds, in continuation 

 of the researches of his predecessor Garrod on the same subjects. In the 

 summer of 1880 Mr. Forbes made a short excursion to the forests of 

 Pemambuco, Brazil, of which he published an account in 'The Ibis' for 

 1881. In July, 1882, he left England on what promised to be a splendid 

 opportunity of visiting the eastern tropics with every advantage and without 

 much risk. Detained at Shonga — a station 400 miles up the Niger below 

 Kebba — by the breaking down of his communications, Mr. Forbes fell a 

 victim to dysentery on January 14th last, thus adding another name to 

 the long list of martyrs of science in that deservedly dreaded climate. 

 Mr. Forbes 's published works consist chiefly of papers in the 'Proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society ' aud ' The Ibis,' altogether about sixty in number. 

 He was editor of the memorial volume of collected scientific papers of his 

 predecessor Garrod, and just before he left England in July last had finished 

 the last sheets of an excellent memoir on the anatomy of the Petrels — since 

 published in the 'Zoology of the Challenger Expedition.' — 'Nature.' 



SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



Linmean Society of London. 



April 19, 1883. — Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.K.S., President, 

 in the chair. 



Messrs. T. \V. Coffin, F. H. Collins, C. F. De Laune, D. Morris, 

 J. Jardine Murray, and Hon. J. B. Thurston were elected Fellows of the 

 Society. 



A paper was read by Sir John Lubbock " On the Sense of Colour among 

 some of the Lower Animals." He stated that some years ago M. Paul 



