Birds. 447 



From the name given to it by the Greeks — " Xt?u3av " — is derived the name of our 

 wild celandine (Chelidonium majus), or, as it is frequently called, "swallow-wort," with 

 which plant, it was formerly believed, the swallow opened the eyes of her young ! Id. 



Note on the Sivallow. It is now some weeks since the swallows assembled on the 

 house-tops in great congregations. They met apparently for the purpose of departing 

 in company to other lands than ours. I have seen none since these meetings took 

 place until yesterday, October 15, when about a dozen chimney-swallows were observ- 

 ed, hawking for flies over our garden. The previous days had been frosty, so much so 

 that the Ochil hills were white with snow. To all appearance the ground here will 

 also be covered, to the depth of a few inches, ere tomorrow dawn. The hour when the 

 swallows were seen was a little after noou. The sun was shining warmly at the time, 

 although the frost, during the preceding night had formed ice, in some places, I am 

 told, about a quarter of an inch in thickness. While the birds were flying, I observed 

 a nettle tortoiseshell butterfly also on the wing. — Robert Dick Duncan ; Vale of Al- 

 mond, Mid Calder, Edinburghshire, October 16, 1843. 



Singular locality for the Nest of the Greater Titmouse. An account given of a sin- 

 gular locality for a redstart's nest under a garden pot (Zool. 355), reminds me that a 

 few years ago, in a friend's garden at Chelmsford, I met with a nest of the greater tit 

 (Parus major) in a precisely similar situation, but I believe the parent bird was too 

 much disturbed to allow of her rearing her young in her odd retreat. I remember once 

 seeing a robin's nest in a small watering-pot which was hanging against a wall. — Al- 

 fred Greenwood ; Penzance, December 21, 1843. 



Note on Anthus petrosus (Montagu). About a fortnight ago I observed a small 

 flight of these birds on the banks of our reservoir. I think it is generally believed to 

 confine itself to the coast. I was much surprised to observe that they refused to asso- 

 ciate with the common meadow pipits (Anthus pratensis) which were abundant, but 

 associated with two or three pied wagtails (Motacilla Yarrellii, Gould) ; indeed its ha- 

 bits were precisely similar to that bird's, keeping to the soft mud and chasing insects 

 in the same manner, so that any one might readily have taken it for a wagtail, except 

 for its colour. — F. Bond; Kingsbury, Middlesex, November 10, 1843. 



Microscopical Society of London. 



November 15, 1843. — J. S. Bowerbank, Esq., F.R.S., &c, in the chair. 



Read, a paper by J. S. Bowerbank, Esq., F.R.S., entitled "Additional observations 

 on the structure of the Shells of Molluscous and Conchiferous Animals." The paper, 

 of which this is a continuation, was read before the Society on the 18th of January 

 last, and the present observations relate to the mode in which wounds in the periostra- 

 cum are repaired, which differs in many respects from the analogous operation in the 

 shelly structures. A shell (Solen vagina) in Mr. Bowerbank's possession, having had 

 this organ pierced in a great number of places, afforded upon examination the means 

 of ascertaining the manner in which Nature operates in making up deficiencies in that 

 important membrane. In this case the wounded organ is so situated as to preclude 

 the possibility of the ordinary mode, namely, the exudation of a layer of coagulable 

 lymph, being followed, and consequently another course is pursued. The inner layer 

 of the periostracum gradually advances from all sides over the wounded surface, until 



