SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 35 
are in abundance, and I caught any number of them and their eggs. At 
Koeang, when I was making the ascent of a volcano, I saw hundreds, many 
of them within a stone’s-throw of me. I have found a cave filled with 
edible birds’-nests, but it belongs to a chief who is very jealous of it. I 
have been on one unsuccessful Babirussa hunt, but intend to organise 
another on Limbé Island. The Sapiutan, Anoa depressicornis, is common 
in some places. The Black Monkey, Cynopithecus niarescens, is very com- 
mon, being found in all the mangrove swamps. Earth-worms and Leeches 
I have not yet seen, but perhaps they will turn up in November or December 
when it rains. Periopthalmus is very common here, and I shall be able to 
make a study of it. There are plenty of Butterflies, but very few Beetles. 
“ee My thanks are due to Capt. McLean and the officers of the 
‘Flying Fish’ for much help. My present plan is to stay here for some 
months, and do some quiet work; later on to go to the mainland to investi- 
gate the fauna of the great inland lakes, which is very interesting.” 
December 3, 1885.—Sir Joun Lussocx, Bart., Pres., in the chair. 
Sir H. KE. Maxwell, Bart., Lieut.-Col. L. Blathwayte, aud Messrs. R. A. 
Baston, S. J. Capper, C. Ford, G. B. Howes, J. H. Gurney, jun., W. H. 
'Jdones, W. F. A. Lambert, C. T. Musson, W. D. G. Osborne, D. Petrie, 
and G. Thom were elected Fellows. 
Mr. Vincent J. Chamberlain exhibited and made remarks on a specimen 
of Trap-door Spider and its nest from California. 
Prof. T. Spencer Cobbold read a paper, “ On Parasites collected by the 
late Charles Darwin,” including a letter from Mr. Darwin when trans- 
mitting the specimens to the author in 1869, and followed by Dr. 
Cobbold’s own memoranda concerning eight of these, whereof one only, 
Distoma Incerta, proves to be new to Science. 
A paper was read by Mr. P. Herbert Carpenter, “On the variations in 
the form of the cirrhi in certain Comatule.” The shape and number of the 
cirrhus-joints of Antedon phalangium vary so greatly, both in the same 
individual and in specimens from different localities, that if the two extreme 
forms were met with in an isolated condition, they would assuredly be 
referred to different species of Antedon. The cirrhi of this species are 
classed by the author under four types:—(A) long-jointed; (B) inter- 
mediate; (C) square-jointed; (D) short jointed. A is the typical form 
which occurs in the Mediterranean variety, but is also found in the 
Atlantic specimens, together with B, and also but more rarely C ; while D 
is confined to individuals from the Minch and the Ross-shire coast, 
occurring together with C, which is rare in examples from the Atlantic, 
except in those dredged by the “‘ Dacia” on the Seine Bank. 
A technical paper by Mr. Joseph S. Baly (Part I.), “On the Colombian 
species of the genus Diabrotica, with descriptions of those hitherto 
