158 REPORT — 1859. 



not ranging north of Peterborough ; but Vanessa Antiopa is most plentiful between 

 the Humber and the Tyne, and has more than once been observed in Scotland. 



Of the two species which may be considered extinct with us, one, Chrysophanus 

 Dispar, used to be abundant at Whittlesea Mere ; but since that was drained, causing 

 cornfields to wave where reeds had formerly held undisputed sway, the insect has 

 disappeared. Similar fen districts still exist in Norfolk and Suffolk ; but though the 

 insect has been sought there in its most likely haunts, no recent captures are known. 



With reference to the distribution throughout the globe of our sixty-five British 

 butterflies, it may be remarked that fifty-nine occur in Asia, twenty-seven are found 

 south of the Mediterranean, several cross the Atlantic, and one, Cynthia Cardui, is 

 cosmopolitan. 



Dr. Dickie, in his able paper on the Distribution of the Aberdeenshire Plants, 

 divided, according to Mr. Watson's suggestion, our British Flora into the British, 

 English, Germanic, Atlantic, Scottish and Highland types. 



It may readily be conceded that the twenty-five generally common butterflies 

 correspond to the British type of plants ; the twenty-five more southern butterflies 

 to the English type ; but unless we refer the three moor and mountain species to the 

 Highland type, we cannot follow the same system of classification further. 



We have not a single butterfly peculiar to our west coast, nor a single one peculiar 

 to the north ; the circumpolar species which occur in Lapland do not reach us ; 

 neither have we any one species peculiar to the eastern coast of England. We 

 simply trace, as we advance northwards, a gradual decrease in the number of 

 species : every one of our British butterflies is abundant in the South of Germany. 



Account of the Fish-rain at Aberdare in Glamorganshire. 

 By tlie Rev. W. S. Symonds. 

 The evidence of the fall of fish on this occasion was very conclusive. A specimen 

 of the fish was exhibited, and was found to be the Gasterosteus leiurus, Cuv. 



On Drift Pebbles found in the Stomach of a Cow. 

 By the Rev. W. S. Symonds. 

 The author exhibited thirty pebbles, one of them weighing three-quarters cf a 

 pound, found in the stomach of a cow lately killed at Barton-under-Needwood, 

 Burton-on-Trent. The pebbles belong to the Northern drift of geologists, which 

 abundantly overlies the New Red Sandstone of the district ; and they are remark- 

 ably glazed and polished by the action of the cow's stomach. The weight of the 

 pebbles is five pounds, and the animal appeared perfectly healthy and fat when 

 killed by Mr. Goodman, butcher, of Barton-under-Needwood, to whom reference 

 may be made. 



Note on Falco Islandicus and F. Grcenlandicus. 

 By James Taylor, Medical Student, Aberdeen. 



Falco Grcenlandicus and F. Islandicus have been confounded by some writers ; 

 they are considered distinct by Mr. Hancock, and Mr. Taylor's observations con- 

 firm this view ; F. Gyr-falco Norvegicus is an allied species. F. Islandicus is largest, 

 viz. 23£ inches ; in the adult of both sexes the predominating colour is brownish- 

 grey spotted. F. Grcenlandicus is intermediate in size, viz. 22 inches ; in the adult 

 of both sexes the predominating colour is bluish brown, and greyish white beneath, 

 F. Gyr-falco Norvegicus, an allied species, is smaller than either. 



The author has seen all the ihree species, and the F. Grcenlandicus more than 200 

 miles over the south-west ice in Greenland. When on the cliffs which they frequent, 

 this last species rests in a leaning position, as if on the point of commencing flight. 

 The F. Grcenlandicus is rather indiscriminate in choice of food, capturing ptarmigan, 

 puffins, gulls, and various species of sea birds. 



On the Employment of the Electrical Eel, Gymnotus Electricus, as a Medical 

 Shock-Machine by the Natives of Surinam. By Prof. George Wilson. 

 This paper was an appendix to a communication " On the Electric Fishes as the 



