TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 703 



2. Report of the Committee to arrange for the occupation of a Taile at the 

 Zoological Station at Naples. — See Reports, p. 150. 



Report of the Committee for making arrangements for assisting the ITarine 

 Biological Association Lahoratory at Plymouth. — See Reports, p. 94. 



4. Report of the Committee for continuing the Researches on Food-Fishes 

 at the St. Andrews Marine Laboratory. — See Reports, p. 141. 



5. Report of the Committee on the Migration of Birds. — See Reports, p. 146, 



6. On the Irrtiption of Syrrhaptes paradoxus. 

 By Professor Newton, M.A., F.R.8. 



The author began by observing that 25 years before, almost to a day, he had 

 made a communication with the very same title to the Section at Newcastle, and 

 had then been bold enough to anticipate a recurrence of the irruption of which he 

 then treated, a full account of which appeared in ' The Ibis ' for 1864. After 

 briefly pointing out the peculiarities of this singular form of bird, and tracing 

 what" was known of its early history, especially of its appearance in Europe prior 

 to the first great irruption of 1863, he proceeded to notice the two small and less 

 inown visitations of 1872 and 1876. In the former of these it had only been ob- 

 served in two localities — one on the coast of Northumberland, the other on that of 

 Ayrshire — in both cases in the month of June, though in neither was any specimen 

 procured. In the latter (1876) it was observed in three localities — one being near 

 Winterton, in Norfolk (in May), another near Modena, in Italy (in June), and the 

 third in the county Wicklow, in Ireland (in October). The irruption of the present 

 year had been on a scale at least as large as that of 1863, if not larger — certainly 

 the number of observations was greatly in excess. It had also taken place fully a 

 month earlier. From the information at present in his possession it had extended 

 further to the southward — in Italy to Orvieto, and in Spain (which country had 

 been for the first time reached) to the Albufera of Valencia ; and to the westward — • 

 to BelmuUet, in the county Mayo ; but at present it seemed to have fallen short as 

 regards its northern limits, though very possibly time would prove that localities 

 quite as far towards the north as on the former occasions (the Nord Fjord, in Nor- 

 way, and the Faeroes) had been attained. The limits of all the irruptions from 

 1859 to 1888 were shown on a map, and in this way it was evident that the general 

 direction of all was practically identical. The discovery of the * radiant point ' 

 (which might be assumed to be beyond the Caspian Sea) was very desu-able, and on 

 this matter the author hoped trustworthy information might be received from 

 Russian observers. With regard to the causes which had led to these extraordinary 

 movements, he wished to express himself cautiously : but their apparent regularity 

 inclined him to think that they were not due to any * convulsion of Nature,' as 

 some persons supposed, but rather, as he had before suggested, to the natural over- 

 flow of a redundant population. When more complete information had been 

 obtained he hoped to treat this irruption at length in ' The Ibis ' for the year 1889 

 in some such way as he had treated that of 1863. 



7. Remarhs on some Teleostean Ova, and their Development. 

 By 3. T. Cunningham, B.A., F.B.S.E. 



The ovum of Solea vulr/aris has a diameter of 1"46 to 1'47 mm. Its peri- 

 vitelline space is small. There are a large number of very minute oil-globules 

 aggregated in irregular groups on the surface of the yolk, at first mostly near the 



