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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Henry Seebohm, the eminent ornithologist died 

 in London on November 26th, aged not yet sixty. 

 Although extremely enthusiastic about his especial 

 study, he brought into it a cool and deliberate 

 valuation of facts, which characterised his conduct 

 of the immense commercial undertakings which he 

 assisted in managing. He was not only a closet or 

 museum naturalist, but one who sought out in the 

 wildest spots on earth the difficult problems in 

 ornithology which interested him. For these 

 purposes he travelled much while investigating the 

 breeding places of birds, even up to the Arctic 

 Circle in the palasarctic region. For this purpose 

 he spent many months in both European and 

 Asiatic Siberia, on which he has written deeply 

 interesting books, that should be read by all, for 

 they rank among the best works on travel. Other 

 journeys were made to Holland, Norway, the 

 Danube, Greece, Pomerania and Heligoland. In 

 fact, having large financial resources, Mr. Seebohm 

 could afford much which is denied to ordinary men. 

 It can hardly be wondered, under these circum- 

 stances that he should have developed a certain 

 independence in his ornithological views. He was 

 one of the Secretaries of the Royal Geographical 

 Society, and took active steps to secure success for 

 the late International Congress of Geographers 

 which was held in London. Mr. Seebohm was much 

 attached to the Natural History Department of the 

 British Museum, South Kensington, rendering it 

 many important services ; one of the last being the 

 presentation of his entire and most valuable 

 collection of birds'-eggs. He will be much missed 

 by the naturalists of Sheffield, where are situated 

 the steel works of Seebohm and Dickstahl, of which 

 he was the head. Among the more important 

 works of the late Henry Seebohm are " Catalogue 

 of the Passeriformes or Perching Birds in the 

 collection of the British Museum (Warblers and 

 Thrushes)," 1874; "Classification of Birds, an 

 attempt to Diagnose the Sub-classes of Existing 

 Birds," 1890; "The Birds of the Japanese 

 Empire," 1890; "The Geographical Distribution 

 of the Family Charadriidae ; or, Plovers, Sand- 

 pipers, Snipes, and their Allies," 1888 ; "A History 

 of British Birds, with coloured illustrations of their 

 Eggs" — this was commenced in 1882 and finished 

 some years later, forming one of the most impor- 

 tant books on British birds — " Geographical 

 Distribution of British Birds," 1893; "Siberia in 

 Europe, a Visit to the Valley of the Petchora in 

 North East Russia," 1880 ; and " Siberia in Asia, 

 a Visit to the Valley of the Yenisei in West 

 Siberia," 1882. This latter book is one of far more 

 than passing interest, as it contains, beside a great 

 deal of information about the then little-known 

 country of Siberia and its original Samoyoed 

 inhabitants, much new and valuable information on 

 the breeding and migration of certain European 

 birds. Mr. Seebohm was a Fellow of several of 

 the chartered scientific societies, but he rarely 

 used his right to the initials following his name. 

 Influenza was the indirect cause of Irs death. 



City of London Entomological and Natural 

 History Society. — At the Meeting held Tuesday, 

 September 17th, 1895, the exhibitors included the 

 Rev. C. R. N. Burrows, Apamea ophio gramma taken on 

 sugar in his garden at Rainham ; he remarked 

 that this species deposits its ova in a row in a fold 

 at the edge of the leaf of ribbon grass. Mr. Bayne, 

 a small specimen of Boarmia roboraria from Epping 

 Forest, and a brownish specimen from the New 

 Forest, in which the usual peppering of small dots 

 was wanting on that portion of each wing con- 

 tiguous to the inner margin and anal angle ; also 

 an example of Boarmia gemmaria with a pale greyish 

 median area to the fore-wings. Mr. Bacot, a 

 series of Bryophila perla from the waterworks wall, 

 Lea Brdge, which were very white and cleanly 

 marked. Dr. Buckell, three series of Eugonia 

 quercinaria bred this year. The parents of series 1 

 were of the normal narrow-lined form with few 

 markings, and their progeny showed a very slight 

 melanic tendency. The parents of series 2 were 

 darker, the male showing strong melanic tendency 

 in the outer third of fore-wings ; many of the male 

 progeny showed considerable darkening on both 

 the inner and outer thirds of the fore-wings, the 

 females having the lines strongly marked, and in 

 some cases showing a considerable sprinkling of 

 dark scales. Parents of series 3 were a very 

 dark male and a very pale female ; the progeny 

 were all dark, some extremely so, and many of the 

 females had the outer third of fore-wings very dark. 

 Mr. Nicholson also exhibited a short bred series of 

 this species. The parents were a male with outer 

 third of fore-wings suffused with a smoky tint, and 

 a female with inner and outer thirds considerably 

 darkened. All the females bred showed a strong 

 tendency to melanism in the outer third, except 

 one ; and all except two were dark on the inner 

 third ; the males all showed similar darkening, and 

 one was entirely suffused with smoky brown, 

 especially on inner and outer thirds. Mr. Bacot, 

 referring to a recent visit to Sandown with 

 Mr. Prout, said that a mixture of raspberry jam 

 and methylated spirits had proved more productive 

 than the ordinary treacle, rum and jargonelle 

 essence. They had taken, amongst many others, 

 Leucania albipuncta, Aporophyla australis (common), 

 Agrotis saucia (abundant), and all the British ex- 

 amples of the genus Triphaena except T. interjecta. 

 Mr. Tutt exhibited Nemeophila plantaginis from one 

 locality near Andermatt, Switzerland, including 

 var. hospita and others ; some of the latter were 

 almost entirely black, and others had the hind 

 wings scarcely marked with black at all. He had 

 seen occasional British specimens like all these 

 forms. — Tuesday, October 1st, 1895. Exhibits : 

 Mr. Oldham, Leucania albipuncta from Folkestone. 

 Mr. Tutt, Polyommatus agon from Westmoreland, 

 the females being much suffused with blue, and the 

 males of two shades, some being almost lilac- 

 coloured and others bright blue. Also Orthosia 

 suspecta, Celaena haworthii, Hydrcecia lucens and 

 paludis, all from Warrington. He believed paludis 



