SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES* 65 



ever, so firmly fixed that I had time to fetch a pair of sheep-shears from a 

 farmhouse about a mile away, with which I cut off its head, as we wished 

 to see how deep the prickle had penetrated The bramble was about a yard 

 from the bank, and where the Viper was hanging was about 2 feet from 

 the ground. It seemed to us that the Adder must have made' a spring 

 from the top of the bank. This occurred at Crowboro' Warren, Sussex. — 

 R. H. Ramsbotham (Beetham, Milnethorpe). 



CRUSTACEA. 



The Crayfish. — Last December, whilst dissecting the Common Cray- 

 fish, Astacus fluviatilis, I had one, a female, with three genital pores, the 

 extra one being on the thirteenth appendage, or third leg (according to 

 Prof. Huxley's nomenclature) on the left side (or right side when on its 

 back); the oviduct leading to these two was bifurcated just before the 

 entrances to the pores, and the ovaries were full of ova. I preserved the 

 specimen, but unfortunately spoilt the dissection of the oviduct in trying to 

 preserve it. — J. N. Smith (30, Shooters Hill Road, Blackheath, S.E.). 



SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



Linnean Society of London. 



December 21, 1893. — Prof. Stewart, President, in the chair. 



Gen. Sir H. Collett and Mr. H. H. Johnson were admitted, and 

 Messrs. G. E. Greene and A. G. Tansley were elected. 



Mr. P. L. Simmonds exhibited a collection of New Zealand mosses 

 found by Mr. G. W. Simmonds while surveying in H.M.S. ' Pandora.' 

 Mr. Murray offered some critical remarks on the nature and value of the 

 collection, which the owner was understood to say would be presented to 

 the Botanical Department of the British Museum. 



The President exhibited and described two curious examples of 

 associated ants and plants, namely, Iridomyrmex caudatvs, with Myr- 

 mecodia beccari and Camponotus planatus, with Pseudomyrma belli, the 

 plant being Acacia hindsii. 



Mr. J. E. Harting exhibited some shells of Planorbis comeus, which 

 had been found by the river-side at Weybridge, and which from some 

 unascertained cause were curiously bisected. Alluding to the piscivorous 

 habits of the Water Shrew, Sorex fodiens, he suggested that it might be 

 the work of this little animal. Mr. A. D. Michael thought it likely to be 

 the result of frost, the lower half of each shell being preserved by being 

 imbedded in or adherent to the frozen mud. 



Referring to a MS. letter of Dr. Stephen Hales (the author of ■ Vegetable 



