Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh. 3895 



powerful lens, Mr. M. has been unable to discover any opening at the end of the tube. 

 This strange conversion of the maxillae would find a parallel, were we to suppose an 

 elephant with a pair of additional trunks (though impervious) issuing from its mouth, 

 in place of the molar teeth. These observations have been made solely from the dried 

 specimen, which occurred among the lot that fell to the share of Dr. Lowe, to whose 

 kindness Mr. M. said he owed the specimen, as well as several others of the most va- 

 luable in the box. Dr. Lowe was at once struck with the singular appendages above 

 described, which he found to be highly flexible when the insect was taken out of the 

 spirits. As to their probable use, Mr. Murray said he could not even hazard a con- 

 jecture, as there is no information regarding the habits of the insect ; but he might 

 say that, to his eye, the organs appeared to have more relation to the antennae than to 

 anything else. A few species of this genus have been already found in North Ame- 

 rica and Mexico, as well as five or six in Africa; but they are very scarce. In the 

 corner of the box there were a few specimens of two insects (an Anobium and a Cryp- 

 tophagus) which came home alive, feeding on the pine-cones, and which, however ac- 

 ceptable to him as an entomologist, he (Mr. M.) could honestly say he would rather 

 have dispensed with, for the sake of his horticultural friends, who may have suffered 

 from their ravages. 



Mr. R. F. Logan next exhibited and described various additions to the Lepido- 

 ptera of Edinburghshire, captured during the last year. After placing at the disposal 

 of the Society, for the use of the members, a few copies of the " Catalogue of the Le- 

 pidopterous Insects of Mid Lothian," published in the * Naturalist,' Mr. Logan enu- 

 merated twenty-eight additional species which had been unintentionally omitted from 

 the list; among them were Agrotis Luuigera, Eupithecia palustraria, Micropteryx fas- 

 tuosella, QEcophora senescens, and several other species of interest. He then read a 

 list of twenty-five species added during the past summer (1852), and exhibited the in- 

 sects, among which were Phlaeodes immundana, Lithocolletis Messaniella, Z., Nepti- 

 cula Argyropeza, Z., Gelechia politella, Doug., Gelechia Anthyllidella, G. marmorea, 

 Crambus dumetellus, C. contaminellus, and Actebia praecox. In conclusion, be 

 brought before the notice of the Society the plan of a work which he projected, should 

 it meet with sufficient support, to be intituled ' Illustrations of Scottish Lepidoptera,' 

 in which he intended, to figure many of the rarer and more interesting species, with 

 details of their transformations and economy. He exhibited a number of the draw- 

 ings in preparation, three or four of which would form a part, to be issued quarterly ; 

 and solicited the names of subscribers, to enable him to carry out his undertaking. 



Mr. Hugh Miller read a paper " On the Red Sandstone, Marble, and Quartz- 

 rock Deposits of Assynt, with their supposed Organisms and probable Analogues." 



James Bonar, Esq., W.S., York Place, and George Meldrum, Esq., Accountant, 

 53, York Place, were balloted for and unanimously elected Members of the Society. 



Saturday, March 12, 1853. — Hugh Miller, Esq., President, in the chair. 



The following donation to the library was announced, and thanks ordered to be 

 given to the donor : — ' Description of a Skeleton of the Mastodon giganteus of North 

 America:' presented by the author, John C. Warren, Esq., M.D., Boston, U. S. A. 



Read, a paper by William Rhind, Esq., intituled, " Facts respecting the Laws 

 which regulate the Distribution of Rivers and the principal Watersheds of the Earth." 



