230 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
trasting remarkably with the gloomy background. No unusual 
sound accompanied the phenomenon; there were indications that 
it was not the only one formed, but the mist was too dense to 
enable them to be clearly discerned. The storm did not break 
over Lyell Bay till 3 o’clock, when there was a great downpour of 
hail and rain, accompanied by lightning and thunder. The 
points which impressed me most were the immense height, the 
symmetry, and the distinctness of the column, and the absence of 
agitation and convolution in the first stage, save at the surface of 
the sea. 
In conclusion, Mr. Marchant read an account written by the 
late Captain Igglesden, of waterspouts seen in the northern part 
of the Indian Ocean in 1836, the peculiarity of which was that 
they were unaccompanied by an increase of wind. The cause of 
such phenomena might, therefore, be due either to high upper 
winds, contrary winds, or electrical action. 
[From a different source, we learn that the waterspout was 
seen by another observer about ten minutes after Mr. Marchant — 
saw it. It was then distant about 30 miles (measured on the 
map), and was travelling up Palliser Bay on a N.E. course; The 
height of the column was estimated at 1200 feet, and its diameter 
about 30 feet. The observer obtained these estimates by com- 
parison with a range of hills of known height, behind which the 
lower part of the waterspout was seen to pass, and on the top of 
which Jarge trees stood out clearly against the sky.— Ep.] 
AUCKLAND INSTITUTE. 
June 26, 1882.—E. A. Mackechnie, Esq., president, in the chair. 
New members elected :—C. Cooper, A. Grey, T. Melville. 
Papers—(1) ‘‘ New Species of Pselaphide,” by Capt. T. Broun, 
M.E.S. The following new forms were fully described :—Startes 
sculptuvata, Bryaxis nemoralis, B. difformipes, B. calcavata, and Sagola 
teyricola. All of these had been collected by the author on the | 
Waitakerei Ranges, near Auckland, with the exception of the 
last mentioned, which was obtained at Tuakau, in the Lower 
Waikato. 
(2) “‘ Protective Resemblances among New Zealand Spiders,” 
by A. T. Urquhart. The author commenced his paper by stating 
that although spiders were more or less conspicuous when resting 
on their webs, yet when they occurred on foliage, amongst twigs, 
or on rocks or loose earth, there was always a general similarity 
of coloration between them and their surroundings. He then pro- 
ceeded to point out special instances of protective coloration. For 
instance, all the spiders found by him on the charred branches of 
burnt manuka (Leptospermum) were of an ashy grey colour, streaked 
and spotted with black, and often so closely resembled the 
blackened branches in colour as only to be distinguished by close 
observation. On the other hand the spiders collected on the 
living manuka were of various shades of green, brownish-green, 
brown or grey colours all to be found in the leaves, twigs, and 
bark of the tree. Similarly, spiders found on the common furze, 
the cabbage-tree (Cordyline), the kangaroo acacia, and on pines 
and eucalypti, always possessed colours harmonising with the 
different tints of the vegetation. Passing to species found chiefly 
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