3i6 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



weather over Western Europe at S a.m. the same 

 morning of the lecture, which throughout was illus- 

 trated by numerous lantern-slides. Mr. Birt Acres 

 showed on the screen, by means of his cinemato- 

 scope, some very interesting studies of clouds, and 

 also of waves at Dover during the storm on 

 March 3rd last. 



Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. 

 — At the meeting of the Norfolk and Norwich 

 Naturalists' Society which was held on February 

 23rd, at the Castle Museum, Norwich, the 

 President, Sir F. G. M. Boileau, in the chair, Mr. 

 Clement Reid, F.G.S., sent a note stating that it 

 had been recently discovered that the much-debated 

 Paradoxocarpus, not uncommon in the Cromer forest- 

 bed, is the fruit of the water-soldier (Stratiotes 

 aloides). It seems difficult to obtain the ripe fruits 

 of Stratiotes in this country, and in Germany it does 

 not appear to fruit at all freely. Notes on " Pallas' 

 willow-warbler and other rare European warblers," 

 by Mr. H. E. Dresser, F.L.S., were read. One of 

 the most interesting additions that has lately been 

 made to the avi-fauna of the British Islands is 

 certainly that of Pallas' willow-warbler {Phylloscoptcs 

 proregulus), a single example of which was shot at 

 Cley-next-the-Sea, on October 31st, 1896, by 

 Mr, Ramm. With regard to the range of this bird, 

 it was, until comparatively recently, looked on as 

 strictly an Asiatic species, which had on one or two 

 occasions strayed into Europe proper ; but Mr. 

 Zaruduy has found that it occurs regularly on the 

 western slopes of the Ural. In Asia, amongst other 

 places, it is recorded from near Lake Baikal, from 

 the Himalayas, Kashmir, Gilgit, and other places. 

 It frequently passes the winter in Central and 

 Southern China. Although Pallas' willow-warbler 

 cannot be separated specifically from the Phylloscopi, 

 it approaches very nearly in its general habits 

 and nidification to the golden-crested wren. Dr. 

 Dybowsbi writes that "its note is melodious and 

 powerful, and its song varied and sweet, and so 

 loud that it rings throug'n the forest, and is 

 astonishing as coming from so small a bird." Some 

 remarks were added by the author of the paper on 

 other eastern warblers which had stra3'ed as far 

 west as the British Islands. r^Ir. Patterson (Hon. 

 Secretary Great Yarmouth section) read his inte- 

 resting "Notes "for October, November, December, 

 1896, and January, 1897. Mr. J. H. Gurney, F.Z.S., 

 read his report on " Norfolk Ornithology for 1896." 



The South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society.— February 25th, 1897. 

 Mr. R. Adkin, F.E.S., President in the chair. 

 Mr. Bishop, of Kingston-on-Thames, was elected a 

 member. Mr. Billups exhibited for Mr. Sauze 

 some seventy species of Diptera, Coleoptera, 

 Neuroptera, etc., which had been taken during 

 last year. Mr. Tutt, specimens of Agiais (Vanessa) 

 iiriica, var. ichnusa, from Corsica, and remarked that 

 Mr. Merrifield's experiments had resulted in only an 

 approximation to this var. ; he also showed speci- 

 mens of Thais cerisyi, var. deyrolii, from South-East 

 Europe. Mr. Adkin, two series of Pachnobia 

 hyperborea [alpina), one from Rannock and the other 

 from Shetland, and made remarks on its local 

 variation and its unaccountably intermittent 

 appearance. In the discussion which followed, 

 Mr. McArthur gave his experience of its appearance 

 in alternate years. Mr. Tutt suggested that 

 the species still retained its boreal habit of remain- 

 ing two years in a larval condition. I\Ir. Adkin 

 instanced Retinia resinella as having a precisely 

 similar habit. Mr. Mansbridge, a smoky var. of 



Spilosoma lubricipeda, from York. Mr. Tunaley, a 

 large number of species from Aviemore to illustrate 

 his paper and including long and very varied series 

 of Erebia cethiops, Eupithacia sohrinata, Laventia 

 didymata, Thera simulata, T. firmata, Cidaria immanata, 

 Emmelesia tninorata, Padisca ophthalmicana, Gelechia 

 pnpulella, and others, especially selected to show the 

 range of variation occurring in that locality. Mr. 

 Tunale}' then read a paper, entitled " Notes and 

 Observations in a Holiday in the Black Forest of 

 Scotland from July 29th to September loth, 189G." 

 In a few words he described the geographical 

 surroundings and the geological formation of the 

 district, together with an account of the weather he 

 experienced, and some remarks on the necessary 

 equipment for collecting among the Scotch 

 mountains. He then took the more prominent 

 species, and described the variations, peculiar habits 

 of life, and their protective resemblances. Several 

 of the species were noted as having different times 

 of appearance at different elevations, e.g., E. cethiops. 

 He said that Eloantha solidaginis at rest on a fir 

 post closely resembled a piece of curled bark, and 

 pointed out the extensive variation in the central 

 band olT. juniperata. The paper was interspersed 

 with apt remarks on Scotch characteristics, and 

 terse descriptions of the environment of each 

 species. In the discussion which followed, Mr. 

 Tutt compared the habits of E. cethiops in the Alps 

 with the species in Scotland, and also contrasted 

 the allied species, E. ligea, which hid in the fir-trees 

 on the disappearance of the sun. Mr. Barrett said 

 that Epinephele janira also roosted in the branches 

 of trees at sunset. — Hy. J. Turner, Hon. Report. Sec. 



North London N.\tural History Society. — 

 Thursday, January 2Sth, 1897, ^^r. C. Nicholson, 

 President, in the chair. Miss Florence Villars was 

 elected a member of the society. Z\Ir. Watson 

 narrated how, on January 23rd, in Highams Park, he 

 had rescued a chaffinch which was caught b}- the 

 wing in a hawthorn bush with the loss of about 

 one feather. Mr. Prout summarised the season, 

 for Entomology, of 1896. For mere collectors it 

 had been one of the worst ever known, but it was 

 pleasant to be able to record an unwonted 

 abundance of most of the butterflies throughout 

 the country, the most noteworthy being Vanessa 

 antiopa and Aporia crataegi. Sugar had been very 

 disappointing, but 1896 had been an exceptionally 

 good year for the local Dicycla 00, and Caradrina 

 ambigua had turned up in great numbers. One 

 Leucania viteUina, one L. utiipiincta and a few 

 L. albipuncta had likewise been recorded, whilst 

 Pachnobia hyperborea, Noctua sobrina and Catocala 

 fraxini had occurred in the north. Mr. Barrett 

 had recorded a new species, or marked local form, 

 of Leucania from the east coast, under the name 

 of L. favicolor, and Mr. Carrington had added 

 Calophasia platyptera to the British list. INIr. Prout 

 then reviewed the scientific work of 1896, mention- 

 ing particularly Professor Poulton's paper to the 

 Entomological Society "On the Courtship of 

 certain European Acridiidae " ; Mr. Bacot's work, 

 in conjunction with Mr. F. N. Pierce, of Liverpool, 

 in rearing hybrids of Smerinthus ocellatus-populi ; 

 Dr. Chapman's paper " On the Phylogen}' and 

 Evolution of the Lepidoptera from a pupal and 

 oval standpoint"; and Sir Geo. Hampson's 

 " Classification of three sub-families of Moths of 

 the family Pyralidas." Mr. Wattson summarised 

 the work in the Odonata during 1896. In the 

 "Entomologists' Monthly Magazine" for August, 

 Mr. McLachlan recorded the capture of eight 



