212 



THE SECRETARY ON AN ABNORMAL CAPE LOURIE. 



Mr. E. Heron-Allen, F.L.S., P.R.M.S., F.Z.S., described the 

 Mussel-fishery and Foraminifera of Esnandes (La Rochelle), and 

 the early work of Alcide d"Orbigny. 



A series of slides was exhibited illustrative of the early studies 

 of Alcide d'Orbigny at Esnandes (near La Rochelle), and the 

 Mussel-fisheries established there since the year 1035. The 

 experiments of Prof, W. A. Herdman on the West Coast of 

 England were referred to, and those of Prof. A. Meek at Holy 

 Island on the East Coast. A further series was shown illust- 

 rating some of the notable d'Orbigny an species found in the 

 neighbourhood, not recorded from there by d'Orbigny in 1826, 

 but recorded from other localities at that date, and from distant 

 seas between 1839 and 1846. A third series of slides illustrated 

 well-known species from the locality which had been recorded and 

 described by earlier authors, but were not apparently identified 

 by d'Orbigny from the neighbourhood of La Rochelle. 



May 1st, 1917. 



Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., Vice-President, 

 in the Chair. 



The Secretary, Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.^., announced 

 with the deepest regret that Mr. Henry Peavot, the Society's 

 Librarian and Clerk of Publications, had been killed in action. 

 Mr. Peavot had entered the service of the Society in 1896, and, 

 after passing through various departments, was appointed 

 Assistant Librarian and Clerk of Publications in 1908, and wa.s 

 promoted to the post of Librarian and Clerk of Publications in 

 1912. In every way he had gained the esteem and regard of 

 the Scientific Fellows of the Society, and was one of the most 

 valuable and competent members of the Society's staff. 



The Secretary exhibited a coloured sketch of an abnormal 

 Cape Lourie (Tttracus corythaix Wagl.), kindly sent to him by 

 Mr. E. C. Chubb, F.Z.S., the Curator of the Durban Museum, 

 Natal. The specimen, which was the property of the Durban 

 Museum, was normally coloured on the head and neck, but the 

 rest of the plumage was pale grey or dirty white, with the 

 exception of a portion of the wings, which retained the normal 

 red colour. The example could not be exactly described as an 

 albino, inasmuch as the red colour was known to be due to a 

 pigment, the : ' Turacin" originally described by Professor Church, 

 and the green colour of the head and neck, unlike that in most 

 species of birds with green feathers, was due also to a green 

 pigment. 



