vi. Proceedings. [October 12th, 1896. 



[Microscopical and Natural History Section ^\ 



Ordinary Meeting, October 12th, 1896. 



Charles Bailey, F.L.S., President of the Section, 



in the Chair. 



Mr. Coward exhibited a few specimens of eggs of the 

 Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) along with the eggs of their foster 

 parents. He remarked on the vexed question of the 

 resemblance of the eggs to those of their foster parents. 

 There were, among his specimens, two distinct types of the 

 eggs of the Tree-Pipit, and also two types of Cuckoo's eggs 

 closely resembling these, but one of the clutches of Tree- 

 Pipit's eggs of the dark brown type contained a Cuckoo's 

 egg of the greenish type, and a clutch of greenish Pipit's 

 eggs contained a dark brown Cuckoo's egg. 



That the Cuckoo sometimes makes mistakes was illus- 

 trated by an egg taken from a Linnet's nest, together with 

 one egg of the latter bird, where the type of the Cuckoo's 

 egg resembled that of the insectivorous Whitethroat, a 

 bird which was exceedingly common in the locality where 

 the egg was taken. 



Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill exhibited all the species of the 

 order Droseracea contained in his herbarium, consisting of more 

 than half the known species throughout the world, and in 

 which all the six genera, Dvoseva, Drosophylkim, Aldrovanda, 

 Dionaa, Rorldula, and Byblis, which compose the order, were 

 represented. The differences between the genera were 

 pointed out, and the geographical distribution was dis- 

 cussed (Australia being their metropolis). The affinities 

 of the order, which are evidently with Saxifrages, were 

 pointed out, and one or two of the most noteworthy exotic 

 species remarked upon; e.g., Dvosera Huegelii, D. pallida, and 

 the purple-flowered D. Menziesii, from West Australia ; 



