438 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Dr. D. H. Scott described some experiments which he had tried, 

 tending to confirm the conclusion that the irritation of the skin produced 

 bj contact with the bulb-scales of hyacinths is due immediately to puncture 

 by the numerous raphides. 



On behalf of Dr. H. B. Hewetson, of Leeds, Mr. Harting exhibited 

 photographs of a specimen of Macqueen's Bustard (Otis Macqueeni), which 

 had been shot at Easington, in Holderness, on Oct. 17th last, and gave a 

 brief account of the species, which had now been met with in England for 

 the third time; the first instance of its occurrence having been noticed in 

 Lincolnshire in October, 1847, and the second at Marske, N.E. Yorkshire, 

 in October, 1892. 



Mr. Hugh Warrand exhibited a remarkable bird which was believed at 

 first to be a hybrid between the Red Grouse and Ptarmigan, but which, 

 in the opinion of Mr. Ogilvie Grant, Mr. Millais, and Mr. Harting, 

 could only be regarded as an abnormally pale-coloured Grouse. Only 

 one possible instance had been recorded of such a hybrid as was sug- 

 gested, viz. in the case of a bird which was exhibited some years ago by 

 Prof. Newton to the Zoological Society (P. Z. S. 1878, p. 793), and had 

 since been figured by Mr. Millais in his work on Game Birds (pp. 181, 182). 

 See also Chamberlain, Zool. 1892, p. 41. 



A specimen of the Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius isabellinus), an 

 extremely rare visitor to this country from North Africa (probably via 

 Spain), which had been shot on Salisbury Plain, at Earlstoke, on Oct. 10th 

 last, was exhibited by Mr. Harting, who gave particulars of the occurrence, 

 and stated that another example of this bird had since been obtained in 

 Bouley Bay, Jersey. (Vide antea, p. 435.) 



A paper by Mr. A. W. Waters, F.L.S., on Mediterranean Bryozoa, was 

 then read on his behalf by the Zoological Secretary. Dealing in the first 

 place with some Cellular lidce and other Bryozoa from Rapallo, the paper 

 was to some extent a revision of a work already published on Mediterranean 

 Bryozoa. Stress was laid upon the importance of noting the position from 

 which the radicle-tube grows, and this was found to be a character of 

 specific value. The way in which articulation takes place is another 

 character of importance, and it was shown that there are two distinct kinds 

 of articulation in the Cellulariidce which might be used in establishing 

 generic divisions. The complicated stalk of Childonia Cordierii, Aud., 

 was described, and comparisons made with the stalks of Stirparia. Ovi- 

 cells on the top of the '* erect tube " of Aetea were recorded for the first 

 time, and as a "tribus" Inovicellata had been created for the Aeteida, it 

 was shown how precarious it is to base classification upon the absence of a 

 character. 



Dr. S. Schonland communicated a paper on some new species of 

 Crassula from South Africa, which he had obtained from localities which 



