716 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
Expedition ” — also explored the island ; but that only turned out 
to the advantage both of Professor Bayley and our Society. Pro- 
fessor Bayley had given kindly counsel and aid to Dr Schwein- 
furth, the botanist of the Riebeck expedition, and Dr Schwein- 
furth, with rare self-abnegation and generosity, responded by sub- 
sequently sending his botanical collections to Professor Bayley, in 
order that the whole flora might he worked out in one. An entire 
volume of our Transactions (vol. xxi., published in 1888) is devoted 
to the Botany of Socotra. That volume contains Schweinfurth’s 
botanical results worked up with those of the Balfour expedition, 
and nearly all that is known of the botany of Socotra, as the ex- 
pedition of Mr and Mrs Bent, a couple of years ago, added little 
to it. 
MM. Ogilvie Grant and H. 0. Eorbes of the new expedition 
have just gone out, and will remain for five months. By the new 
expedition the survey question will, it is believed, be fairly tackled 
for the first time. The ethnographic question will be dealt with, 
and an attempt made to advance towards the settlement of it 
farther than Schweinfurth. As to the geology and biology of 
Socotra, previous expeditions have given definite knowledge, hut 
further exploration will, of course, add much to it in the way of 
details. It is thought unlikely, however, that there will he any- 
thing so startling as the disclosures which the explorations of 
twenty years ago furnished. Dr Forbes, the botanist of the party, 
will endeavour to send home seeds and living plants of several 
species, valuable from a horticultural point of view. The Begonia 
Socotrana brought home by Balfour’s expedition is now in general 
culture in Europe, and, as the parent of an entirely new race, has 
revolutionised Begonia culture. 
In conclusion, Dr Traquair, from whom the Society has 
received so many valuable contributions, read in July last papers 
on “A new species of Cephalaspis discovered by the Geological 
Survey in the Old Red Sandstone of Oban ” ; and on “ Thelodus 
Pagei , Powrie, from the Old Red Sandstone of Forfarshire as 
also a “ Report on Fossil Fishes collected by the Gelogical Survey 
of Scotland in the Upper Silurian Rocks of the Lesmahagow 
District.” 
The last of these . especially was of very great interest and im- 
