240 Proceedings of the 



Allman in Bursaria leucas, a protozoan animalcule, which 

 consist of fusiform capsules, having a single spicule in their 

 interior, or to the globular thread-cells of Cydippe, described 

 by myself, which contain a simple coiled thread, unaccompanied 

 by the usual invaginated sac which occupies the thread-cap- 

 sules of the Hydroid Zoophytes. 



We cannot, I think, doubt that the tricho-cysts of the sub- 

 ject of this communication are instruments of offence, like the 

 thread-cells of zoophytes. If so, woe to the unlucky inhabi- 

 tant of " the broad sea wolds" who shall be clasped by the 

 white and blushing arms of Spio, once a powerful Nereid and 

 grand-daughter of Oceanus and Terra, to whom the piety 

 of mankind made offerings of the choicest of milk, oil, and 

 honey, now degraded to the form of a cruel and voracious little 

 worm, and fed by dilettante naturalists on morsels of native 

 oyster. His fate will be like that of the unfortunate whom 

 we have all read of, who, drawn gently into the arms of what 

 seemed a beautiful maiden, suddenly found himself transfixed 

 by a hundred hidden blades projecting through the rich silk 

 that covered her breast. 



IV. Ornithological Notices. By John Alex. Smith, M.D. 

 (The birds were exhibited.) 



These notices record instances of the capture of some of our rarer birds. 



1. The Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus, Cuv.). A very fine specimen 

 of this rare hawk was killed in Selkirkshire, near the town of Selkirk, on 

 the 12th or 13th of June last. The bird, which I examined, was an adult 

 female, measuring fully two feet in length from the bill to the tip of the 

 tail, and seventeen and a-half inches from the flexure of wing to its ex- 

 tremity. Its stomach was filled with white -skinned caterpillars, the larvae 

 probably of wasps, or some other Hymenopterous insects, which form its 

 favourite food ; and the ovaries contained eggs the size of marbles. It 

 is distinguished from the other British hawks by the small, closely-set, 

 scale-like feathers, of a greyish colour, which cover the lore, or space be- 

 tween the bill and eyes. Through the kindness of Graham Bell, Esq., 

 advocate, I am enabled to exhibit a fine specimen of the honey buzzard, 

 which was shot some five or six years ago by one of his sons, on his pro- 

 perty of Castle'oer, in Eskdale, on the borders of Dumfriesshire, thus add- 

 ing another instance of the bird being captured in Scotland. Mr Bell 

 also informs me that two specimens of Quail (Coturnix vulgaris) have 

 been shot at Castle'oer within the last five years. 



