SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 155 



Mr. S. Pace brought forward a collection of shells belonging to the genus 

 Columbella, and made some observations concerning the peculiarities and 

 geographical distribution of some of the species exhibited. 



A paper was read by the President " On the terminal flower in the 

 Cyperacece." After remarking that this order had been newly arranged 

 by Dr. Pax in Engler's 'Jahrbuch' (1886), and in Engler and Prantl's 

 • Pflanzenfamilien,' the character taken for primary division of the order 

 being the inflorescence, he considered that the classification advocated 

 proved either that the modern method pursued by Dr. Pax was of limited 

 systematic value, or that he had erred considerably in his ascertainment of 

 the fact whether in each genus the flower is terminal or not. Mr. Clarke 

 exhibited his own analysis of the spikelet in the larger genera in dispute. 

 He held that in Carex, Scleria, and their allies, the flower, male and female, 

 was strictly axillary ; that in Rhyncospora it was axillary— -exactly as in 

 Dichromena and Psilocarya— while in Hypolytrum the flower is terminal, 

 exactly as in Mapania. He further maintained that these facts could be 

 sufficiently shown by the aid of a penknife and pocket-lens, and that no 

 results which might be hereafter obtained by studies in development could 

 affect the weight to be attributed either to the character of the " terminal 

 flower " or to the real affinities of the genera. The paper was illustrated by 

 lantern-slides showing dissections, and a discussion followed in which Sir D. 

 Braudis, Mr. A. B. Rendle, Dr. Prain, and Dr. D. H. Scott took part. 



Dr. H. Field, of New York, then made some remarks on the proposed 

 establishment of a central international bureau for zoological bibliography, 

 and the annual publication of an international Zoological Record. 



Zoological Society of London. 



March 5th.— Sir W. H. Flower, K.C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., President, in 

 the chair. 



The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the 

 Society's Menagerie during the month of February, and called special 

 attention to a fine Giraffe recently arrived from South Africa. This was 

 believed to be the first example of the large, dark-blotched race ever seen 

 alive in Europe, the Giraffes previously exhibited having belonged to the 

 smaller and paler form found in Northern Tropical Africa. The Society 

 had also purchased a pair of Sable Antelopes, Hippotragus niger y and a pair 

 of Brindled Gnus, Connochcetes taurina, all in excellent condition. 



The Secretary exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Walsey, of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company, two Martens' skins which had been received from two districts 

 widely apart. The peculiarity in these skins consisted in the fact that one 

 of the fore legs in each skin was wanting, and there was nothing to indicate 

 that a limb had ever existed at that part. 



