3902.] Annual Report. 35 



memoir, like the work last mentioned, is fully illustrated, tlie illustra- 

 tions in tlie present book being peculiarly fine. It is gratifying to note 

 that their excellence has been much commented on in Engiand, more 

 especially as the drawings are the work of a native artist trained to the 

 work by Major Alcock himself. 



To the general student of animal life and the intellectual public as a 

 whole the third of Major Alcock's productions during the past year will 

 be the most interesting. This is " Zoological Gleanings from the Royal 

 Indian Marine Survey Ship Investigator'' originally published among 

 Scientific Memoirs by Medical Officers of the Army in India. Herein 

 are collected a number of most valuable and interesting observations 

 hitherto scattered among reports and papers where they are not always 

 easily accessible and are liable to be overlooked. These observations deal 

 with such fascinating subjects as commensalism (the association of two 

 very different animal forms for their mutual benefit), sexual characters, 

 pairing and parental care, protective and warning devices and colonis- 

 ation, courtship, and habits of breeding and feeding. And these relate 

 not only to crustaceans and fishes, but to other marine animals, such as 

 echinoderms, while there are also some excellent observations on birds 

 and reptiles. Taken altogether, this paper is a remarkable contribution 

 to the natural history of many groups of animals, and shows the author 

 equally at home in field observation as in systematic work, which is more 

 than can be said, unfortunately, for many zoologists in these days of 

 wild speculation and quibblings about nomenclature. 



In his department of butterflies, our late and deeply-to-be-regretted 

 member, Mr. L. de Niceville, was also always conspicuous as a worker 

 equally competent in field or cabinet study, and in his last year's paper 

 a " ISTote on the Butterflies comprised in the subgenus Tronga of the genus 

 JEuploea,'" he shows his usual perspicacity in attempting to reduce to order 

 the limbo of synonyms in which workers have plunged these unfortunate 

 insects, with which he was so well acquainted in life. 



Mammals and birds are the chief forms of animal life dealt with 

 in two interesting papers by Captain A. H. McMahon, C.I.E., which 

 embody notes on the fauna of the little-known regions of Dir, Swat, and 

 Chitral. Of special interest are the author's observation of the occurrence 

 of monkeys in this region and his account of the Chitrali method of 

 catching goshawks. 



Lastly, some zoological contributions to the Proceedings of the 

 Society naturally come in for mention here. There have been some 

 interesting exhibits. Major Alcock having shown some fine examples of 

 the Museum modeller's work in snakes and deep-sea fish, and Mr. Finn 

 a living guinea-fowl provided with a neck-tassel of feathers, a curious 



