1877.] MR. A. ANDERSON ON PODICEPS CRISTATUS. 807 



Other skins were principally interesting as extending our know- 

 ledge of geogr.uphical distribution, such as those of Phylloscopus 

 trochilus and Acrocephalus schcenibasnus from long. 88° E., Anthus 

 gustavi of Swinhoe ( = J. seebohtni of Dresser, =A. batchianensis 

 of Gray) from the same longitude, and young birds in first plumage 

 of this species from the Kurile Islands. 



Mr. W. Saville Kent, F.Z.S., exhibited the plans of a Zoological 

 Station and Museum and Institute of Pisciculture to be established 

 at St. Helier's, Jersey, of which he was the originator. The 

 object sought in the establishment of this institution was the pro- 

 vision within British waters of facilities for pursuing marine biologi- 

 cal investigations similar to those which exist at the Naples Aquarium 

 and Zoological Station, and at the Anderson School of Natural 

 History at Penikese Island, Buzzards Bay, U. S. A. 



The Secretary exhibited on the part of Mr. A. Anderson, F.Z.S., 

 one of the spotted eggs o{ Ascalaphia coromanda referred to by him at 

 p. 316 of the Society's ' Proceedings ' for 1876. Mr. Anderson was 

 of opinion that Owls laying such remarkably well-marked eggs was 

 one of the most extraordinary facts in oology he had heard of. He 

 regretted that the companion egg, which was equally well marked, 

 had been left by an oversight in India. 



The Secretary also exhibited on the part of Mr. A. Anderson, 

 F.Z.S., the young of Rhynchops aJbicollis and Seena nuraniia on 

 first exclusion from the egg-shells, these chicks having been hatched 

 in Mr. Anderson's own house along with a number of others. 



Mr. Anderson drew attention to the fact that there was no appre- 

 ciable difference between the bills of the two species at this early 

 stage, so that the extraordinary scissor- shaped bill of Rhynchops 

 albicollis must be developed when the bird is in a state of adolescence. 



Mr. Anderson had never yet succeeded in procuring one of these 

 birds showing the partially developed bill, owing to their habit of keep- 

 ing well in the centre of large rivers, and of secreting themselves on 

 islands, sandbanks, and drift-wood on the first approach of danger. 



The Secretary also exhibited on the part of Mr. A. Anderson, 

 F.Z.S., portions of the skins of the parent Grebes (Podiceps cris- 

 tatus), together with two of the nestling birds in a downy state, the 

 nidification of which had been described by him in ' Stray Feathers,' 

 vol. iii. p. 274. 



Mr. Anderson was of opinion that it was the extraordinary heavy 

 rainfall during that year that had induced some of these birds 

 to linger in the plains of the North-west Provinces for the purpose 

 of breeding. Still he considered it likely enough that a few pairs 

 regularly nested in the Oudh tarai, and on some of the larger sheets 

 of water in Bundelkhand, where the country had not yet been tho- 

 roughly explored during the rainy season. 



