54 



pliotograiDlis taken by Mr. P. W. Farmborough, F.Z.S., illustrat- 

 ing the colour-change and phases in the moult of an Arctic Fox 

 now living in the Society's Gardens. 



Mr. D. Seth-Smith, F.Z.S., Curator of Birds, read a paper, 

 illustrated by lantern-slides, on the Moulting of the King Penguin 

 {Aptenodytes pennanti) in the Society's Gardens. He referred 

 to Mr. de Winton's paper on the same subject which appeared 

 in the 'Proceedings' in 1898. The specimen observed by 

 Mr. de Winton did not moult until it had lived sixteen months 

 in the Gardens, whereas the specimen now in the menagerie 

 had moulted twice in six months. 



The author stated that the new feathers were almost fully 

 grown before the old ones were shed, and that the latter had to 

 be rubbed off by the bird's beak or feet, as they were firmly 

 attached to the sheaths of the new feathers. The paper was 

 ilhistrated by photographs, which showed the bird in various 

 stages of the moult, as well as by specimens of the shed feathers. 



Dr. S. F. Harmer, M.A., F.R.S., Y.P.Z.S., read a paper by 

 Prof. A. D. Imms, D.Sc, B.A., entitled, " Some Collembola from 

 India, Burma, and Ceylon, with a Catalogue of the Oriental 

 Species of the Order," Four genera and twenty-eight species 

 were described as new, amongst the latter the most remarkable 

 being a form unique among Collembola in possessing a median 

 cercus to the fifth abdominal segment, and for the reception of 

 which a new subfamily was foi-med. The total number of Col- 

 lembola known from the Oriental region was stated to amount to 

 53 species comprised within 27 genera. 



A paper on the " Ontogenetical Transformations of the Bill in 

 Arclea cinerea" by Prof. P. P. Sushkin, C.M.Z.S., was read by 

 Mr. D. Seth-Smith, F.Z.S. The author gave a description of the 

 gradual development of the bill in a series of embryos and young 

 specimens of the Heron upon which he had made observations. 

 The simple rhamphotheca proved to be only a late stage of the 

 compound one, and the form of the Ardeine bill he regarded as 

 a derivative one, and discussed its resemblance to those of allied 

 forms. 



