462 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



BATRACHIA. 



The Movements of the Frog. — An extremely ingenious working 

 model of a Frog has just been submitted to us by Messrs. Herbert Crossley 

 and Theodore Birnbaum, the inventors and patentees. It is life-size, 

 composed of inflatable india-rubber, and coloured to resemble a living animal. 

 Connected with it is a long and very slender flexible india-rubber tube, 

 terminating in a small rubber-ball which is held in the palm of the hand. 

 On placing the frog on the ground or in the water and applying pressure 

 in jerks to the india-rubber ball, air is forced into the hind limbs, which 

 are thereby extended in the most natural manner, and cause the body to 

 move forward. By placing it on a convenient ledge the frog may be made 

 to dive into the water. It will remain and swim below the surface by using 

 slight pressure, which should be sharply removed at each stroke. In this 

 way the operator is able to produce the most life-like movements at any 

 desired rate of speed, and so study them at leisure. We are informed that 

 the "automatic swimming frog," as it is termed, will soon be procurable at 

 all the principal toy-shops in the metropolis. 



SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 



Linnean Society of London. 



November 1st, 1894. — Mr. C. B. Clarke, F.R.S., President, in the 

 chair. 



Messrs. Arthur P. Green and F. Lewis were elected Fellows. Mr. 

 Alexander Whyte was admitted. 



Messrs. H. and J. Groves exhibited an undescribed Chara from West- 

 meath, and made remarks upon its peculiar mode of growth. 



Mr. J. 0. Tepper exhibited photographs of a new and remarkable 

 Fungus from South Australia, Laccocephalum basilapiloides, which explained 

 the formation of the peculiar stone-like nodules occasionally found when 

 cleariug scrub-land. These were found to be due to the agglutinating 

 nature of the mycelium of this fungus, the grains being permanently 

 cemented by lime and ferruginous oxides. 



The Rev. G. Henslow made some remarks on a peculiar mode of 

 propagation of Oralis cernua, observed in Malta, and exhibited some views 

 taken during his sojourn there. 



Mr. Miller Christy exhibited a long piece of leaden pipe which had 

 been gnawed through its entire length by rats, in a manner which showed 

 that the object was not, as generally supposed, to get access to water. 



Mr. H. M. Bernard exhibited some photographs of corals taken with 

 the "Kodak" camera. 



