SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES, 899 
by the Government to make an inquiry into the subject, and to see how far 
these trained Swallows may be useful to the army as messengers in time 
of war, has not yet been able to test their efficacy, owing to the fact that 
the birds at present in possession of M. Desbouvrie are too young, and 
require further training before they can be fairly experimented with. An 
instance of the rapidity of their flight is quoted by the trainer. An untamed 
Swallow, which had its nest in a farm near Roubaix, was caught and taken 
in a cage to Paris, where it was released. It returned to its nest in ninety 
minutes, having accomplished a distance of 258 kilometres, or over two 
miles a minute. M. Desbouvrie is certain that a far greater speed will be 
obtained from trained birds. Should the Government accept his idea, which 
he is convinced it will, he proposes to build a Swallow-house on the heights 
of Montmartre, and another on Mont-Valérien. The superiority of Swallows 
over Pigeons as carriers, both as regards the swiftness of their travelling 
and the difficulty of shooting them, is evident; but they have yet to be 
tried on a large scale before a verdict can be pronounced on them. Still the 
results already obtained are remarkable, and the prospect of the messenger 
of the zephyrs, as one old poet calls the sacred little bird, being pressed into 
military service, is another proof of the utilitarianism of the age.” We quote 
these remarks as likely to be of interest to our readers, but have no faith in 
the writer's idea that the experimentalist will succeed in his object. 

SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
Enromo.LocicaL Society or Lonpon. 
September 4, 1889.— Capt. H. J. Ewes, F.L.S., Vice-President, in 
the chair. 
Prof. C. H. Fernald, of Amherst, Mass., U.S.A., and Mr. C. J. Fryer, 
of Emscote Road, Warwick, were elected Fellows; and Prof. C. V. Riley, 
of Washington, U.S.A., and Dr. A. S. Packard, of Providence, Rhode Island, 
U.S.A., were admitted into the Society. 
Mr. George T. Baker exhibited two remarkably dark specimens of 
Acronycta ligustri taken near Llangollen. 
Mr. P. B. Mason exhibited and remarked on a collection of Lepidoptera 
which he had recently made in Iceland. The following species, amongst 
others, were represented, viz. :—Crymodes exulis, Triphena pronuba, Noctua 
conflua, Plusia gamma, Larentia casiata, Melanippe sociata, Coremia 
munitata, Phycis fusca, and Crambus pascuellus, 
