PROCEEDINGS 



ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY 



EIGHTY-FOURTH SESSION, 1854-55. 



Wednesday, November 22, 1854.— Hugh Miller, Esq., President, in 



the Chair. 



The following Donations to the Library were presented, and thanks 

 voted to their respective donors : — 



1. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Parts 1 and 2 of Vol. 

 VII. From the Society. — 2. Anatomical and Physiological Observations. 

 By John Struthers, M.D. From the Author.— 3. On the Occurrence of 

 Cinchonaceous Glands in Galiaceae. By George Lawson, F.B.S.E. From 

 the Author. 



I. Hugh Miller, Esq., the retiring President, delivered an opening 

 address on " The Fossiliferous Deposits of Scotland." (This has been 

 published as a separate pamphlet.) 



Professor Fleming moved a vote of thanks to Mr Miller, which was 

 unanimously agreed to, for the able and beautiful exposition of the pre- 

 sent state of our knowledge of the geology of Scotland they had just heard, 

 which he trusted they would be favoured with in a more permanent form. 

 The Professor also alluded to the great loss the Society, and science in 

 general, had sustained in the death of Professor Edward Forbes. 



II. On a curious habit stated to have been observed in one of the Wood- 



peckers in California. By Andrew Murray, Esq. 



In this communication, Mr Murray stated he had received information 

 on the habits of one of the Californian woodpeckers, which appeared to 

 him both sufficiently new and interesting to be worthy of being made ge- 

 nerally known to naturalists ; and although the information is imperfect, 

 and may possibly turn out to be incorrect, he was bold enough to com- 

 municate it to the Society. The statement is, that a particular wood- 

 pecker in California lays up a store of acorns in autumn for its spring 

 consumption, and does so by hammering out small holes in the bark of 



vol. i. A 



