1901-1902.] 51 



He also exhibited some slides of nightjars' nesting-places, 

 eggs, and young just hatched, glacial erratics, and tally sticks, 

 explaining that the latter, still surviving in some parts of 

 Ireland, including a district along the Lower Bann, were used 

 very extensively by both bakers and brewers in England till 

 very recent years, and that the Government kept the records 

 of elections of members of Parliament and accounts of the 

 Court of Exchequer on tally sticks till about the year 1826. 

 The burning of the old Houses of Parliament is thought to 

 have been caused by the panelling taking fire in the House of 

 Lords from the heat given out by these old records when 

 used as fuel in the heating stove. 



The concluding paper was by Mr. W. A. Green, explain- 

 ing the introduction of foreign mollusca into this country. 

 Bananas imported from the Canary Islands afford a safe 

 shelter for several species of shells, and occasionally spiders 

 are found when the bunches are opened up. A beautiful 

 little beetle occurs on Californian apples, whilst in currants, 

 raisins, flaxseed, and other imports, shells are sometimes found 

 indigenous to the exporting countries — the Greek Islands, 

 Turkey in Europe and Turkey in Asia. An excellent photo- 

 graph by Mr. R. Welch illustrated the machinery used by 

 Messrs. Forster Green & Co. in cleaning and washing im- 

 ported currants, by means of which sand, stones, footstalks, 

 and other foreign material are effectually separated from the 

 fruit. The lily tanks of the Dublin Botanic Gardens also 

 afforded a striking proof of the introduction of mollusca on 

 the stems of various tropical lilies. 



The election of three new members brought the meeting 

 to a close. 



"THE TEETH OF VERTEBRATES." 



The fifth meeting of the Winter Session was held on 

 18th February, when Mr. Charles M. Cunningham, D.D.S., 

 L.D.S., read an interesting paper on " The Teeth of Verte- 

 brates." Previous to the formal meeting, the usual " Science 



