18 
MEETINGS OF SECTIONS. 
ZOOLOGICAL SECTION. 
Friday, March 9.— Dr. H. Fripp, President of the section, in the 
chair. 
Mr. C. O. Groom-Napier communicated notes (by Mr. Tristram), 
on the Birds of Palestine. After referring to the reasons which have led 
to the rarity of observations on the Natural History of this region, the 
author epitomised a portion of Mr. Tristram's paper read at the Bath 
Meeting of the British Association, in which it was stated that the ornitholo- 
gical interest of this region culminated in the valley of the Jordan, and in 
the plains around the Dead Sea, a region remarkable as the most depressed 
portion of the earth's surface. Mr. Tristram had made notes of upwards 
of 200 species of birds, a large proportion of which were new, and of the 
remainder some were also European and others Asiatic, this region seem- 
ing, by its fauna, to show intermediate characters. The nidification of 
many had also been observed. Amongst the more noticeable birds might 
be mentioned the Ceylon Eagle Owl, only previously known in South 
India and China, the Galilean Swift (new), Smyrna Kingfisher, Palestine 
Sunbird, Bulbul, Fantail, eighteen species of Chat (allied to the Wheat 
Ear), two Vultures, several Falcons, &c, &c. A larger proportion of song 
birds had been observed in Palestine than in Europe, and Mr. Tristram 
denied the common statement that brightly plumaged birds were deficient in 
song, e.g., the Sunbird. Many notes on eggs by Mr. Tristram, hitherto 
unpublished, were read, and about 50 specimens of eggs, and about a 
dozen nests, exhibited. Mr. Napier said that he had tried to identify some 
of these birds with the descriptions in the Bible, and amongst other 
attempts of this kind, spoke of the Crane of the Bible, which he consi- 
dered to be a Swallow, and said that the Swan of the Pentateuch was 
thought to be the Purple Coot. 
Mr. T. Graham Ponton exhibited specimens of Sepiola atlantioa, a 
scarce British Cephalopod, found alive at Clevedon last August. 
Mr. H. K. Jordan exhibited a specimen of Scyllarus arctus, a rare 
crustacean, found at Guernsey by Mr. Gallienne. He observed that it was 
not mentioned in Bell's " Stalk-eyed Crustacea," and that it was more than 
double the size of Mediterranean specimens. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION. 
Tuesday, March 13. — Mr. S. Barton, President of the section, 
in the chair. 
The question respecting the weekly meetings for collecting was first 
