696 LT.-COL. N. MANDERS ON THE 



EXHIBITIONS AND NOTICES. 



May 9, 1911. 



E. G. B. Meade- Waldo, Esq., Vice-President, 

 in the Chaii'. 



Mr. R. I. PococK, F.R.S., F.L.S., Superintendent of the Gardens, 

 exhibited some of the hair of the " puppy coat " of a Grey Seal 

 [Halichierus gryjnts), which was caught at Barmouth, in Meiioneth- 

 shire, at the end of April. When received at the Gardens at 

 the beginning of May this Seal was covei-ed, with exception of 

 the head and flippei"s, with longish woolly white hair, the last 

 of which was moulted on May 7th. Most authoi'ities state that 

 Grey Seals are born in the autumn, not later than about the 

 middle of October, and that the puppy coat is shed from a month 

 to six weeks later. Allowing six weeks for the retention of its 

 puppy coat, this Welsh Grey Seal must have been born near the 

 middle of March, a date in tolei'ably close agreement with the 

 date, namely the end of February, given by Cneiff for the birth 

 of these Seals in the Gulf of Bothnia. It is, therefore, quite clear 

 that these Seals breed both in the early spring and the autumn. 



Mr. E. G. BouLENGER exhibited some living male specimens of 

 the Midwife Toad [Alytes ohstetricans) carrying the eggs. He 

 also exhibited a number of the detached eggs to show the manner 

 in which they were sti-ung together. 



Mr. A. E. Anderson exhibited a laige number of photographs 

 of the more impoi'tant fossil mammals in the Department of 

 Vertebrate Palaeontology of the Ameiican Museum of Natural 

 History, New York, showing the methods of mounting fossil 

 skeletons. For comparison, a set of photographs was exhibited 

 with the skeleton supports eliminated fi'om view, thus adding to 

 the pictorial A^alue of pose in the specimens. 



PAPERS. 



33. An Investigation into the Validity of Miillerian and 

 other forms of Mimicry, with special reference to the 

 Islands of Bourbon, Miiuritius, and Ceylon. By Neville 

 . Manders, Lieut.-Colonel, R.A.M.C., F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



[Received May 8, 1911 : Read May 9, 1911.] 



Naturalists generally and the majoiity of entomologists are 

 disposed to accept a broad view that mimicry is caused by 



