﻿107 . 



notes. We have had a number of papers read before the 

 Society, several of them from members who are separated 

 from us by vast tracts of ocean, but are still with us in spirit. 

 I allude more especially to Mr. Cockerell, who is endeavouring 

 to recruit his health among the mountains of Colorado, and 

 Dr. Percy Rendell, who is at the Cape of Good Hope. We, 

 as members of a Natural History Society, should be always 

 ready to benefit by mutual co-operation and aid ; in fact more 

 willing to give than to receive. We cannot, therefore, do 

 better than to remember the motto of TJie Entomologist : — 



" By mutual confidence and mutual aid, 

 Great deeds are done, and great discoveries made." 



We have held but two actual field meetings during the 

 year, but we have had two most instructive gatherings in the 

 Zoological Society's Gardens and the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Kew ; besides which Esher and Claremont was the district 

 selected for the annual fungus foray. 



The visit to the Zoological Society's Gardens, in May, was 

 under the guidance of our esteemed member Mr. J. Jenner 

 Weir, and to him are we indebted not only that the excursion 

 was a most successful and pleasant one, but for a very 

 instructive afternoon's entertainment. Some considerable 

 time was spent in the reptile house, where we made the 

 acquaintance of the pretty and harmless lizard ; the fierce 

 and gigantic crocodile ; the hissing serpent, endowed with the 

 brightest colours, and clothed in scales flashing in the light 

 with a thousand varied metallic reflections. 



"Terribly beautiful, 

 Wreath'd like a coronet of gold and jewels. 

 Fit for a tyrant's brow ;" 



and were introduced to that curious creature the manatee 

 {Manatus americanus), from Demerara. Mr. Weir informed 

 us that it belonged to the order Sirenia, or Sea Cows. This 

 creature appears to be entirely aquatic in its habits, for it 

 has been noticed that a previous specimen which was in the 

 Gardens was totally unable to move when its tank was dry. 

 It inhabits the shores and rivers of Eastern South America 

 and Western Africa, feeding exclusively on water-weeds. 



