September, as a rule the great heather-honey harvest month, was this year like its predecessors, bleak, cold, and wet. The heather never burst into bloom at all, and the hills around the Holy Loch, generally clad at this season with brilliant purple, presented a gloomy brown appearance. On the 20th I examined the apiary, and decided to bring home the eleven stocks taken away in June with the view of reaping a rich harvest of clover and heather honey, for, in the quaint words of the gardener, "with the exception of thae Italian boys, the rest have naething ava but the skeps and the brods." On the 23rd I sent 280 lbs. of sugar to be made into syrup for winter feeding.

On the 4th of October I weighed all the hives, and found the gross weights range from 57 lbs. to 27 lbs., the two Italian ones, formerly mentioned, being respectively 57 lbs. and 53 lbs. The best black stock was 45 lbs., and I at once decided to Italianize my whole apiary, and sent off for a dozen Ligurian queens, six of which duly arrived on the 20th. I found, on the 22nd, they were not a moment too soon, as in two cases princesses were reigning in the hives; and as they were, from too late hatching, not in a condition to reproduce their kind, not having been impregnated, nothing but destruction to the hives could have been the outcome. Unless the practical bee-keeper makes a minute examination of his hives, some such calamity as this may from time to time happen. Having satisfied myself of the fertility of the remaining queens, I weighed all hives, leaving nothing to chance. Although, no doubt, this has been an exceptionally bad season for bees, let us take courage and hope for better times to come.

NOVEMBER 25TH, 1879.

Professor John Young, M.D., F.G.S., President, in the chair. Mr. James Eggleton, jun., was elected an ordinary member.

SPECIMENS EXHIBITED.

Messrs. Thomas King and Peter Ewing exhibited a variety of mounted specimens of Fungi, which had been collected in the neighbourhood on the previous Saturday. This department of botany has of recent years been receiving more attention than formerly, and the number of species known and described has been

VOL. IV.

largely increased.

Sir Wm. Hooker, in his "Flora Scotica," published in 1821, records about 200 species; while in the Rev. John Stevenson's "Mycologia Scotica," recently issued, over 2100 are enumerated. Our local botanists have taken up the study of the Fungi in earnest, with a view to the meeting of the Cryptogamic Society of Scotland in Glasgow during the ensuing autumn, when an exhibition of the lower forms of plant life will take place.

Professor Young exhibited a number of Tortoise remains from Rodriguez, on which he made some interesting remarks.

Mr. Robert Hill, corresponding member, showed remains of Fishes from Berbice, British Guiana; and the President gave a description of the various specimens, and announced that Mr. Hill had presented them to the Hunterian Museum.

Mr. John Kirsop exhibited a collection of mounted specimens of Ferns, Grasses, and other plants, from the interior of South Australia, sent by Mr. Alexander Murdoch; also Seaweeds from Kangaroo Island, sent by Mr. Duncan Brown, Port-Adelaide.

Mr. George A. Burns brought forward a number of bones of the Moa (Dinornis gigantea), which he had received from Mr. George Dennistoun, of Row, who had lived for many years in New Zealand. They were found by that gentleman on the banks of the Waitaki River, which divides the provinces of Otago and Canterbury, and were lying exposed in a deep gully on the Canterbury side, which had been cut into by very heavy rains. He says that these specimens are very small ones, and that when put together the largest of these remains stands about 15 feet high. It is generally supposed that the Moa has not been seen alive since 1850. They are represented by the natives to have been fat, stupid, indolent birds, which lived upon vegetable food. They belong to the order Grallatores, which includes the Ostrich, Cassowary, Emu, and Dodo; they are also called the Brevipennes, or short-winged, and were unable to fly, although they used their stumpy wings to assist them in running. Moas were very unwieldy birds, and the bones, especially those of the leg, are very massive and solid. The toe-bones almost rival those of an elephant, while the thighs are double those of an ostrich, and of such great strength that they could hit out behind with much force, and could kill a man or a dog with a single kick. Mr. Burns also showed a bundle of assegais from South Africa, which he thought might be interesting to those who had not seen these deadly weapons, of which so much had

been heard lately in connection with the Zulu war. They were picked up in the bush by Mr. Noble, clerk to the Assembly, and they had, no doubt, been used in warfare, as it was just after a battle between two native tribes.

Mr. Peter Cameron exhibited some new British Hymenoptera. He enumerated and described 15 species, all new to the British Fauna, and regarding a few of them he made some interesting remarks.

The President then spoke at some length on the composition of the heads of Crustacea, illustrating his remarks by a number of specimens.

DECEMBER 23RD, 1879.

Mr. John Young, F.G.S., Vice-President, in the chair.

Messrs. William Watson, George F. Bell, and William B. Robinson were elected ordinary members.

Mr. John M. Campbell exhibited a live specimen of the rare Smooth Snake (Coronella laevis), from Hampshire, and made the following remarks:

The Smooth Snake (Coronella laevis, Boie; C. austriaca, Laurenti) is the rarest of all our British reptiles, and although so long ago as March, 1863, Mr. E. R. Alston exhibited a specimen before the Society, and made some remarks on the species, it may possibly be new to many of the present members. Mr. Alston then stated that the first recorded specimen taken in this country was captured by a Mr. Fenton, in Hampshire, in September, 1862, and was presented to the Zoological Gardens, London. It was there seen and identified by Dr. Günther, of the British Museum. But in the volume of Hardwicke's Science Gossip for 1872, a correspondent, while recording the capture of one in Dorsetshire, mentions that the first authenticated specimen was captured in June, 1854, where, he does not state. It has also been taken near Christchurch, and J. R. Wise, in a book entitled "The New Forest," gives Dorsetshire, the New Forest, and Kent, as localities for the Smooth Snake. The specimen I have brought here to-night was taken on a moor near Bournemouth, Hampshire, which is, as far as I know, the most productive locality for the species in this country, though there is good reason for believing that it has a wider range. Bell, in his "British Reptiles," second edition, 1849,

p. 60, states, under the heading Coluber dumfrisiensis, Sow.:— Many years since a small Snake, having the characters of one of the Colubridae, was taken by Mr. J. W. Simmons, near Dumfries. It was published as a new species by Mr. Sowerby in his British Miscellany, and figured in the third plate of that work. It was there named Coluber dumfrisiensis. The specimen remained until within the last few years in the possession of Mr. Sowerby's family; but having come into my hands, it was unfortunately lost or mislaid, and I have never since been able to recover it. There is, I think, great reason to believe that it was a very young Natric torquata, but differing certainly in many respects from the usual appearance and characters of that species. It was about three or

four inches in length, "of a pale brown colour, with pairs of reddish brown stripes from side to side, over the back, somewhat zigzag, with intervening spots on the sides." The most remarkable peculiarity mentioned, however, is that the "scales are extremely simple, not carinated." The abdominal plates were one hundred and sixty-two; those under the tail about eighty. This is all the information at present possessed respecting the species, if it be indeed a species. Mr. Jenyns, in his excellent Manual, expresses the opinion which I have given above, that it is "probably an immature variety of the common species."

From the above description, I have strong reasons for believing the Snake referred to to have been a Smooth Snake (C. laevis), and if such was the case, it proves it to have a much wider range than generally supposed. In this species the scales are rhomboidal, perfectly smooth, and in long rows (Günther gives 21), the ventral plates 160 to 164, the anal plates bifid. Its colour is brown or greenish brown, with two parallel rows of black markings. Very probably it may often be mistaken for the Adder, but the entire absence of the dark zigzag line of black markings, which is a specific character of the Adder, would at once distinguish it from that species, while the yellow collar and the carinated scales of the Ringed Snake form a sufficient distinction in the case of that species.

I have not had sufficient opportunities of observing the habits of the Smooth Snake, but in the volume of the Zoologist for 1865, there are (pp. 9505 and 9734) two interesting papers by Drs. Opel and Blackmore, more especially on the habits of this species in confinement. Its food seems to be principally Lizards, but these

observers state that it also takes Slowworms, killing them by constriction, like the larger tropical snakes. It is said to be ovoviviparous; but one in the possession of Mr. Buckland gave birth to six live young ones. Mr. Alston is of the opinion that "the animal is oviparous, but has the power of retaining her eggs up to the hatching point when in adverse circumstances."

Mr. Campbell also showed specimens of the Bandurria (Geronticus melanopis, Gmelin) and eggs, from Patagonia and Chili, and gave some interesting notices of the habits of this bird from personal observation in South America.

Mr. James Eggleton exhibited a fine specimen of the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaëtus, Lin.), shot on the estate of Ballimore, Lochfyne, Argyllshire, on 28th October last.

Mr. Arthur Pratt brought forward a fine series of skins of birds from the Island of Borneo. The collection, which consisted of upwards of 70 specimens, embraced a variety of species, such as Kingfishers, Woodpeckers, Birds of Paradise, &c., and was much admired on account of the fine plumage of the specimens and the excellent state in which the skins had been preserved.

Mr. John Farquhar exhibited a specimen of Aporrhais pespelicani, which he had found in the glacial clay-beds at Garvel Park, Cartsdyke, and which had not formerly been recorded from that locality, although it has been obtained in several other postglacial deposits.

PAPERS READ.

I. Ornithological Jottings from the neighbourhood of Loch Lomond. December, 1879. By Mr. JAMES LUMSDEN, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.*

At the meeting in February, 1878, I had the pleasure of reading to this Society a rough list of the Birds of Loch Lomond and its neighbourhood. Since that time I have continued to keep notes from all parts of Dumbartonshire and Stirlingshire--of which counties Loch Lomond forms the connecting link—and the following jottings, referring only to the Loch Lomond district, although not of much value taken by themselves, may not be without interest as supplementary to the list already mentioned.

* Although this paper was read in December, 1879, it has been brought up to date of going to press, October, 1880.