57 



Acridlum cegypticum, all living, sent to him from Hyeres by 

 Dr. Chapman. 



Mr. Sich exhibited the ova of Lithocollctis concomitclla, 

 deposited on the sides of a test tube. He stated that the 

 observations of Messrs. Bankes and Wood in 1899 had 

 differentiated this species, on structural characters, from 

 the pomifoliclla group, which had previously been confused. 

 Quite recently he had captured a pair in copulation, and had 

 the pleasure of fully confirming the decision the two previous 

 observers had arrived at. 



Mr. E. Step exhibited a specimen of Trametes bulliardi, Fr., 

 a representative of a small genus of woody or corky fungi 

 that comes between Dcedalca and the old genus Polyporus. 

 Dtxdalca has the pores long and sinuous, the ventral aspect 

 of the pileus presenting the maze-like appearance that has 

 suggested the name ; whilst in Polypovus they are more 

 round and uniform. In Trametes they vary in size and are 

 more or less elongated, but not sinuous. They indeed 

 radiate from the centre, and present much the appearance of 

 Fungia among the Madreporian corals. Trametes gibbosa is 

 the best known of the genus, and can be at once distinguished 

 by its great thickness. T. bulliardi does not appear to be a 

 common species. It is circular or half-circular in form, 

 according to the place of attachment. It grows on dead 

 wood. The specimens exhibited showed thecircular and semi- 

 circular forms, and were taken from a dead willow in Ashtead 

 Woods. One of the accompanying photographs showed the 

 fungus in situ. 



Mr. E. W. Smith exhibited a number of living reptiles and 

 lizards, with eggs and sloughs of the common snake ; and 

 read a paper on the subject of " Reptiles," illustrating his 

 remarks by a number of lantern slides. 



Mr. Smith remarked that our knowledge of this group of 

 animals had increased very considerably during the past half 

 century, so that while in 1854 there were computed to be 

 about 586 species of snakes, at the present time some 1500 

 were known. A similar advance was also recorded in regard 

 to our knowledge of the lizards. After referring to the 

 distribution of reptiles he exhibited a number of lantern- 

 slides from photographs taken from living specimens in his 

 vivarium. One slide, illustrating a recently-laid batch of 

 eggs of the common English grass snake (Tropidonotus 

 natrix), was especially interesting. He described at some 

 length the oviposition and incubation of these eggs, and then 

 gave a detailed account of the distinctive characters of the 



