SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 195 



observations on the present distribution of the species in the British 

 Islands. 



Mr. Clement Reid exhibited a series of fruits and seeds obtained by 

 Mr. J. Bennie from interglacial deposits near Edinburgh, affording evidence 

 of a colder climate formerly than that now prevailing in the lowlands of 

 Scotland. 



Mr. F. Crisp exhibited some fragmentary remains of a wild goose shot 

 in Somersetshire, which had been reported as the Lesser White-fronted 

 Goose, Anser erythropus, Linn., but which was apparently an immature 

 specimen of Anser albifrons, Scopoli. 



In the abseuce of the author, a paper by Mr. A. W. Waters, " On 

 some Ovicells of the Cyclostomatous Bryoza, " was read by the Zoological 

 Secretary, Mr. W. Percy Sladen, and after an interesting discussion the 

 meeting adjourned to April 19th. 



Zoological Society of London. 



March 20, 1888. — Henry Seebohm, Esq., F.Z.S., in the chair. 



Mr. G. A. Boulanger read a note on the classification of the Ranidas, in 

 which, after speaking of the difficulty hitherto experienced in dividing this 

 large group satisfactorily, he called attention to Peters 's discovery that in 

 certain forms a small additional phalanx is present between the ultimate 

 and what is normally the penultimate phalanx. The author therefore 

 proposed to separate the family Ranida into two groups, according to the 

 presence or absence of this peculiar digital structure. 



Mr. G. B. Sowerby gave the description of sixteen new species of 

 Shells, amongst which were two species of the genus Lima from Hongkong 

 and Japan : a remarkable species of the rare genus Malletia from the Bay 

 of Bengal ; a very distinct species of Cyprma from Japan ; and one of the 

 largest species yet known of the genus Columbella. 



Mr. F. E. Beddard read some notes on a freshwater Annelid, of 

 which he had obtained specimens from a tank in the Society's Gardens. 

 He referred these specimens to a new species of the genus Molosoma, which 

 he proposed to call 2E. headleyi. 



Prof. Newton communicated (on behalf of Mr. Scott Barchard Wilson) 

 the description of Chloridops, a new generic form of Fringillidce, based on 

 a specimen obtained on the west coast of the island of Hawaii, Sandwich 

 Group, which he proposed to name Chloridops koua. Unfortunately the 

 single example yet obtained was of the female sex. — P. L. Sclatek, 

 Secretary. 



