306 MEETINGS. 



on the actual sites of the present deposits, so that the 

 physical aspects of our country must have vastly altered ; 

 he then described some of the principal plants which go 

 to the formation of coal, and explained how in the course 

 of ages the process of conversion has gone on. Fossils 

 illustrative of the coal-measures were brought down from 

 the Museum and exhibited. In the discussion which ensued 

 further information was elicited relating to the great Car- 

 boniferous era. 



Mr. A. Collenette exhibited a Carp which was recently 

 brought alive to the Museum, said to have been captured 

 in Belgrave Bay : the probability being, however, that 

 the fish came from the Vrangue pond. A Black-tailed 

 God wit, recently shot in Herm, the first specimen noticed 

 in the Sarnian Islands, was also exhibited. 



Monthly Meeting held on May 18th, 1904, Mr. W. Sharp, 

 Vice-President, in the chair. 



Mr. A. Collenette, F.C.S., discoursed on " The 

 Occurrence of Gold in Rocks," and showed how it 

 generally appeared in connection or mixed with other 

 metals such as silver, copper and iron, though gold often 

 occurred combined with other elements, forming an ore 

 less easily distinguished. Sometimes the precious metal is 

 found in veins, lodes, pockets, and even in sand washed 

 down by rivers. The occurrence of minute quantities of 

 gold in Guernsey rocks is well known, but it is rare. Mr. 

 Collenette also explained why gold is so frequently found 

 perfectly pure, in separate grains and nuggets. 



Mr. E. D. Marquand read some notes on the " Early 

 Life of the Young Cuckoo," extracted from an interest- 

 ing little book by Mr. W. Percival Westell, recently 

 published. It has now been proved that the Cuckoo first 

 lays its egg on the ground, and then carries it in its beak 

 to the selected nest. If two eggs are found in the same 

 nest they have been deposited by different Cuckoos. When 

 only twenty-four hours old, the young Cuckoo begins to 

 eject the other occupants of the nest, both eggs and young- 

 birds, and for this purpose possesses a depression in the 

 middle of its broad back which becomes filled up after it 

 is twelve days old. The process of ejectment is admirably 

 shown in a series of photographs from nature in Mr. 

 Westell's book. 



