belong to this latter class, and many of them have been recorded as parasites of lepidopterous larvae, as also the fact that their pupae are attached by silk threads to the undersides of the leaves upon which their hosts had fed. I now wish to direct attention to the peculiar way in which the pupae of a species of Cirropsilus arrange themselves after leaving the body of the larvae which they had eaten. As a rule, ten to twelve of the chalcids are found in a larva, which they devour almost entirely, the head, forefeet, and a portion of the skin being all that is left, and around these the parasites arrange themselves in a definite circular order, lying on their backs, the head directed to the edges of the leaf, with the other end of the body pointing to the remains of the larva in the centre; in a word, they are arranged like the spokes of a carriage wheel, the axis being represented by the exuviae in the centre. When they emerge from the caterpillar they are quite soft and white, but in a day or two they become black and hard. As I have seen nine different batches of larvae arranged in this regular way, I think it may be concluded that this is their normal custom. On the other hand, the species of Eulophus pupate without distributing themselves in any definite manner. So far as I can make out, the species is C. lamius, Walk., Mon. Chalc. i., 327, 152; but I must confess my utter inability to make anything of Walker's descriptions.

II. Observations on the progress of Vegetation in the Public Parks, during the spring and summer months of 1876. By Mr DUNCAN M'LELLAN, Superintendent of Parks.

Mr M'Lellan stated that during the month of January the weather was exceptionally mild, the mean temperature being 361°. The following months of February, March, and April were unusually cold, wet, and changeable. The lowest point the thermometer reached was on 11th February, when it reached 16° of frost, and 6.77 inches of rain fell during these three months, the mean temperature being 35°. On the 1st of May vegetation was three weeks later than usual, and on the 2d the thermometer indicated 2° of frost, but owing to the extreme lateness of the season no material injury was done to the growth of trees or shrubs, and by the middle of the month they were all proceeding favourably. The oak was in full leaf about the 18th and the ash about the 30th. The ash is generally the earliest of these trees,

but this year the reverse was the case; and this is usually believed to be indicative of a fine summer, as really turned out to be the

The early part of June was cold and dry, but towards the middle of the month summer fairly set in, and on the 20th the thermometer stood at 84° in the shade. The weather from this date up to the end of August was all that could be desired for growing and maturing the crops and fruit. The highest temperature reached during the season was on 16th July, when 85° was registered in the shade; and the lowest during the last three months was on 25th August, when the thermometer stood at 34°, being two degrees above the freezing point. The foliage of the trees and shrubs in all the parks was in great perfection this season; and the finer sorts of flowers, such as geraniums, calceolarias, etc., were in better bloom than usual. The following table shows the maximum and minimum temperature, and the rainfall during seven months of this and last year :

The snow-fall was-February 15th, 2 inches; 24th and 25th, 9; March 9th and 11th, 14; 12th and 13th, 2; 16th, 31; 17th, 11; 21st and 22d,; April 10th and 11th, 2. Total, 22 inches.

Mr John Young, F.G.S., made some remarks upon the meeting of the British Association in Glasgow, and said that it must be gratifying to the members of the societies who had taken a part in contributing to the various exhibitions which were then opened, to learn that their efforts had been eminently successful, and had been much appreciated by the visitors. The illustrations of the fauna and flora of the West of Scotland in the Queen's Rooms and in the Kelvingrove Museum, the display of rock specimens, minerals, and of fossils in the Corporation Galleries, and the natural history collection and magnificent suite of minerals in the Hunterian Museum, which also contained several

cabinets of Silurian, Carboniferous, and Post-tertiary fossils, had been examined by a large number of visitors, who had expressed the great pleasure these exhibitions had afforded them. He had been assured by many of the distinguished foreigners who had been present that they had never seen collections in which the specimens were so perfect, and where the mountings, whether for the microscope or cabinet, were so well executed, and the arrangement so admirable. He trusted that the workers would not rest contented with what they had accomplished, but that, as every day was bringing to light some new discoveries, either in living or extinct forms, they would continue their investigations and collections, so that, when another opportunity offered, they might be found to surpass any former exhibition.

31ST OCTOBER, 1876.

Mr Thomas Chapman, Vice-President, in the chair.

Mr James Grahame was elected an ordinary member of the Society.

SPECIMENS EXHIBITED.

Mr John Young, F.G.S., exhibited a series of slides of mounted specimens of Carboniferous silicious sponge spicules found in the fissures of the limestone strata at Cunningham Bedland, near Dalry, Ayrshire. The discovery of the sponge spicules in this deposit is due to the researches of Mr John Smith of Eglinton Iron Works, Kilwinning, he having submitted specimens of the organisms to Mr Young for determination during the course of last summer. Previous to this discovery by Mr Smith, no remains of silicious sponges had been noted from the Carboniferous strata of the British Isles, so that their abundant occurrence in the limestone of the above district is a point of great interest. The bed of limestone in which they are found lies in the lower division of the Carboniferous series of Western Scotland, and crops out on the west bank of the glen at Cunningham Bedland, where it has been worked in former years. The limestone is traversed at intervals by thin bands of silica, and many of the organisms it contains are found in a silicified condition. A narrow trap dyke

runs through the limestone strata at this place, the direction being from N.N.W. to S.S.E. This dyke has not caused much displacement of the strata; but the faces of the vertical joints of the limestone in the quarry are seen to be beautifully marked with slickensides, the striae of the polished surfaces running in horizontal directions. By the percolation of water impregnated with carbonic acid along the faces of these joints, the limestone has been curiously eroded into narrow gutters or fissures of a few inches in depth, and it is from the decomposed material filling these fissures that the sponge spicules are to be obtained in excellent preservation. Besides these, other organisms which the limestone contains are to be found in the deposit, many of the species of Productus having their spines still attached to the shell, and weathered quite free from the matrix. The sponge spicules, which are of various sizes, from one-twelfth to three-eighths of an inch, are of tri-radiate and quadri-radiate forms, a few being stellate, while more rarely others are fluke-or anchor-shaped. The rays of the various spicules generally terminate in points, but certain of them terminate in rounded knobs. They agree in general form with many of the silicious spicules found in sponges which still live in our present seas. Mr Young stated that the Carboniferous spicules from Dalry are being investigated by Professor Young and himself. They had provisionally placed them in the genus Acanthospongia of M'Coy, naming the species after the discoverer, Mr Smith. In the same deposit is found an abundance of another organism termed Serpula parallela of M'Coy. These consist of bundles of tubular silicious rods, varying in diameter from the size of fine hairs to one-sixteenth of an inch. This organism, which is not uncommon in other localities in the lower limestone strata of Scotland, is now believed not to be a species of Serpula, but to be somewhat closely, if not generically, related to the recent Hyalonema, one of the glass rod sponges. In strata, where all the other organisms exist in a calcareous condition, Serpula parallela is always made up of brush-like silicious bundles. This being the case, Dr Young and himself had provisionally placed it in the genus Hyalonema, naming it H. parallelum. It has been thought probable that this glass rod sponge and the spicules of the Acanthospongia may belong to the same organism, but they had failed as yet in finding any specimens that showed the organic connection of the two forms.

Mr James Lumsden, F.Z.S., exhibited a specimen of the Black Tern, Sterna fissipes, Linn., which had been obtained in Possil Marsh in the beginning of October, and remarked that it was an immature specimen, being evidently a bird of this year. The Black Tern is rare in the West of Scotland; and although more frequently observed in the east, it cannot be called common in any part of the country, while, so far as is known, no authentic instance of its breeding in Scotland is on record. In England it still breeds in some of the eastern counties, but not in such numbers as it did at one time. In Ireland it is now and then observed, but only as a straggler, and, as in other places where it occurs in the same way, most of the specimens obtained have been in immature plumage. Mr H. Saunders, in his recent paper read before the Zoological Society of London (P.Z.S., 1876, p. 643), gives the distribution of this species as "found throughout Europe, Palestine, and North Africa to the Nile; to South Africa it appears to go only as a winter and somewhat rare visitant."

Mr Peter Cameron exhibited a number of new or little known British Hymenoptera, these being-1. Nematus westermanni, Thoms., a species very like, and perhaps only a variety of, N. vesicator, found among osiers on the banks of the Severn, below Gloucester. It is stated to be a gall maker by Thomson, but no precise details of its habits have been published. 2. Nematus vesicator, Bremi., which had been bred from large bladder-shaped galls found in Rannoch last year. 3. Nematus longiserra, Thoms., a species very like N. histrio, St. Farg., but differing in having the last abdominal segment considerably produced. It was bred from larvae found in Inverness-shire, which had been collected in the belief that they were those of N. histrio, so that the larva of longiserra cannot differ much from that of the other. 4. Blennocampa bipunctata, Klug, from Kingussie. This species has been recorded by Stephens as British, but in error, so that the capture of the species in Scotland enables it to be re-introduced as a native of Britain. 5. Blennocampa lineolata, Klug; like the last, this species was erroneously introduced as British by Stephens. It has, however, been bred by Mr J. E. Fletcher of Worcester, so that it is truly British. 6. Pentacrita nigra, Thoms., found at Dalry during the excursion of the Society to that place in August last. 7. Torymus hibernans, Mayr, bred from the galls of Neuroterus lenticularis, from Cadder Wilderness. There were also shown the undescribed