51 
were observed and taken, especially of Coleoptera. The following were 
some of the principal species captured : — ^caphidium Quadrimaculatum, 
about a dozen specimens of this pretty and uncommon species were taken 
under fungus on dead birch trees; Byphillus lunatus, in fungus on dead 
ash ; Pollydrosus micans, P. cervinus, and Orchestes ilicis, by sweeping 
and beating birch ; besides a number of species of more common occur- 
rence. Lepidoptera were not so abundant as the Coleoptera, and but few 
species were captured, the principal being — Geometra papilionaria, larva 
from birch ; Tephrosia punctulata ; and several species of Tineina and 
Tortricina. 
It was determined that the weekly meetings for collecting should be as 
follows : — Saturday, May 12, to the Beech Wood, Stapleton, members to 
meet at Ashley-hill Station, at 6.30 p.m. Thursday, May 17, Boiling 
Wells, to meet at the Mill, at 6.30 p.m. Thursday, May 24, Bedminster 
Marshes, to meet at Bedminster Bridge, at 6.30 p.m. 
The next monthly excursion of the section was arranged to take place 
on June 4th, to Brockley. Members to meet at the Bristol and Exeter 
Railway station to proceed by the 1.45 p.m. train. 
ZOOLOGICAL SECTION. 
Friday, May 11.— Mr. W. Sanders, F. 1 " % in the chair. 
The Secretary of the Section, Mr. S. H. Swayne, exhibited two speci- 
mens received by him in a letter from Windsor, Sydney, Australia, of 
"soldier and sailor" Ants, of large size, and possessing very powerful jaws. 
Mr. Swayne had not yet succeeded in obtaining their specific names. He 
also showed some of the flat under-shells of Placuna placenta, a species 
of oyster, which, after being thinned by splitting, were used in Manilla and 
China as substitutes for window glass. 
Mr. Groom-Napier, F.G.S., F.A.S.L., then read a paper on the 
" Reptiles mentioned in the Bible." He leferred to his former paper on 
" Birds of Palestine and those mentioned in Scripture," and said he had 
given much attention for some years to the natural objects mentioned in 
the sacred writings. The frogs that plagued the Egyptians he believed 
to be the Rana esculenta, or green frogs, so much eaten m France. He 
said four distinct Hebrew words were translated by the word Adder in the 
Old Testament, which he treated separately. Some were identified by the 
derivation of the Hebrew name, signifying some characteristic by which 
the reptile was recognised. One of the four was probably the Egyptian 
Cobra, another the Cockatrice, and a third the Cerastes Haselquisti, which 
the author considered to be also referred to as a " fiery serpent" — Numbers 
xxi. 6-8. This snake coiled itself up, hiding its head in the sand, and 
frequently bit the legs of travellers' horses. Mr. Napier then referred to 
several other reptiles—the leviathan, probably the crocodile, — the lizard, 
