SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 281 



these decorations there can be no doubt. I have never yet succeeded in 

 seeing a wax tip on a Waxwing reared in captivity, excellent as has been 

 my opportunity. — P. L. Hatch (in ' Science,' New York). 



Nesting of the Short- eared Owl in North Devon. — I found this 

 spring, near Braunton, in North Devon, the nest of the Short-eared Owl 

 (Otus brachyotus), in which were three young birds and one unfertile egg. 

 It was on a swampy piece of ground in the middle of a bramble, and was 

 a mere depression in the soil. At different times we put both the male 

 and female owl off the young. On the second occasion on which we 

 visited the nest, the elder of the young birds had gone. The old birds flew 

 round us, circling in the air and uttering a harsh cry resembling the syllables 

 " Che-ough." — F. H. Caruuthers Gould (Buckhurst Hill, Essex). 



SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



Linnean Society of London. 



May 4, ] 893. — Professor Stewart, President, in the chair. 



Messrs. H. B. Bottomley, John Percival, and R. S. Standen were 

 admitted, and the following were elected Fellows: — John Buchanan, C. 

 H. Nicholls; and, as Foreign Members, Prof. G. Claus and M. Casimir 

 de Candolle. 



Dr. R. B. Sharpe exhibited some new and rare birds from Borneo, and 

 made remarks upon the singular distribution of the genera to which they 

 belonged. On behalf of Miss E. M. Sharpe, he also exhibited the sexes, 

 larvae, and cocoons of a rare silk- worm moth, Gonometa fascia, from Lagos. 



Prof. J. B. Farmer exhibited under the microscope some preparations 

 showing attraction spheres in Hepatic spores, and gave the result of his 

 recent researches on the subject. 



Mr. Thomas Christy exhibited some curious variations in foliage in 

 plants of Sterculia from Brazil, reared from the same pod, and showed also 

 a specimen of Erythroxylon coca in fruit. 



Mr. W. B. Hemsley showed two British plants, which were interesting 

 on account of the localities, namely, Empetrum, nigrum from Dorset, where 

 Mr. C. Clarke had seen it growing on Poole Harbour Spit, although it had 

 not been included hitherto in the county flora; and Scilla nutans with 

 prolonged bracts, usually regarded as an introduced garden form which had 

 been found growing apparently wild in a wood near Ashford, Kent. 



Mr. Alfred Sanders then read a paper on the nervous system of Myxine 

 glutinosa, a fish allied to the Lampreys. 



