362 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
of the large white cabbage butterflies passed the steamer without 
attempting to alight, travelling from N.E. to 8.W. We were then 
eighty-five miles W.N.W. of the Elbe mouth. About half-way 
over the North Sea I noticed four very large Gulls on the water 
right in our track; on nearing them they rose and flew off 
south; all four were Glaucous Gulls, two in adult plumage, the 
others mottled with pale brown. I was surprised to see these 
marine vultures so far south in the latitude of the Spurn at this 
time of the year. 
June 20th.—Strong N. wind and heavy sea. When coasting 
between Dunkirk and Ostend to-day, we passed through immense 
numbers of the Common Scoter; more, indeed, than I have ever 
seen on any previous occasion and in any season in the North 
Sea; one flock alone probably contained from two to three 
thousand, another about half that number; besides these, many 
smaller flocks; they were continuously scattered along several 
miles of the North French and Belgian coast, and were particu- 
larly wild and wary, rising as a rule quite a quarter of a mile 
away, small groups only or solitary birds sometimes remaining 
till within long gunshot. 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
The British Association.— The fifty-sixth annual meeting of the 
British Association for the Advancement of Science will commence on 
Wednesday, September 1st, 1886, under the Presidency of Sir William 
Dawson, C.M.G., F.R.S., &e. (Principal of M‘Gill College, Montreal), who 
will take the place of Sir Lyon Playfair. The Vice-Presidents are the Karl 
of Bradford, Lord Leigh, Lord Norton, Lord Wrothesley, the Lord Bishop 
of Worcester, the Mayor of Birmingham (Mr. Thomas Martineau), Prof. 
Stokes, Prof. Tilden, the Rev. A. R. Vardy, M.A., and the Rev. H. W. 
Watson, F.R.S. The General Secretaries are Capt. Douglas Galton, 
C.B., F.R.S., and Mr. A. G. Vernon Harcourt, M.A., F.R.S.: Secretary, 
Mr. A. T. Atchison, M.A., and Local Hon. Secretaries, Messrs. H. W. 
Crosskey, J. B. Carslake, and C. J. Hart. ‘The officers for Section D. 
Biology, are — President, Mr. W. Carruthers, F.R.S.; Vice-Presidents, 
Prof. Schaffer, F.R.S., and Mr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., Sec.Z.S.; Secretaries, 
Prof. T. W. Bridge, M.A., Walter Heape (Recorder), Prof. W. Hillhouse, 
