280 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



a certain amount of intelligence on the pivt of Lin bir.I. But there 

 was this curious fact also. The young seagull never resorted to this 

 mode of breaking shells. It took from two to three years for the bird 

 to attain its full livery of black and white plumage ; it was easv, 

 therefore, to distinguish the young bird in its spotted grey dress, and he 

 could not remember having once seen it rise in the manner described. 

 This would seem to tell against the theory of hereditary instinct, 

 because the habit was evidently an acquired one, and the result of 

 imitations. 



Mr. Hudson said, in reply, that he was very much gratified at the 

 interest the Society had taken in his paper. He was sorry however 

 that the title had been misleading. He merely offered it as a supplement 

 to Mr. Carlile's paper, and did not pretend that it was in any way 

 exhaustive. With reference to Mr. Phillips's remarks on the so- 

 called "vital force," he was not aware that the existence of any such 

 power had been demonstrated. In connection with Mr. Maskell's 

 remarks he wished to direct attention to the extensive modifications 

 which man had produced in many domestic productions by exercising 

 selections in certain directions. Natural selection having such a much 

 wider scope and so much more time to act in must have produced far 

 greater results than man's selection. With regard to the term "natural 

 selection," he was aware that there were certain objections to its use, 

 but it was shorter than the more accurate one "survival of the fittest." 

 In stating that the instincts of insects were inherited in the same 

 manner as their structure and colouring he was onlv following the 

 almost universal opinion of entomologists. In fact it appeared to him 

 impossible to explain the phenomena of the insect world in any other 

 way. How, for example, would it benefit an insect to inherit a 

 resemblance to some inanimate object unless it also inherited the 

 instinct to assume the peculiar position necessary to complete the 

 deception 'I He could not understand Mi-. Harding's statement as to 

 the superiority of the savage over the civilised man in works of 

 engineering skill. In conclusion he was surprised at objections being 

 raised to the idea that knowledge would gradually become an inherited 

 attribute in the human race. How much better, for example, it would 

 be if we could inherit all our elementary learning and thus have so 

 much more time for more advanced studies? There were many 

 instances where insects inherited the faculty of performing most 

 complex actions without being taught, and he did not see why the 

 same law should not apply to man when a sufficiently long interval of 

 time had elapsed to render his activities hereditary. 



(2) Mr. Masked brought to the notice of the meeting a specimen of 

 the Bot or horse fly, which has appeared in New Zealand during the 

 last year; it affected horses in a most serious manner, 'driving them 

 mad. He thought it right to make known the appearance of this pest. 



Mr Travers greatly feared that the direct steamers would he the 

 means of introducing many such obnoxious insects. 



(3) " Notes and Observations on certain Species of New Zealand 

 Birds — with specimens to illustrate the paper," by Sir Walter Buller, 

 K.C.M.G., F. R.S. (Abstract.) Among the species treated of were 



