and it sometimes oozed out through the nostrils, the palate being cleft; the skin was dry and perfectly free from perspiration or moisture: and from these facts, and the absence of any liquid evacuation, and the rainless climate of Nubia where we got them, I am inclined to think the chameleon never drinks, but that the moisture contained in the bodies of the flies he eats is sufficient for the purposes of his economy. An evacuation was observed to occur every second or third day, usually during the morning feed. On cool days he would wait till noon, or even later, for his feed.

It is not easy, in dissecting the tongue, to make out its length. I have frequently seen this large chameleon take flies six inches from him; in several instances it seemed at least seven or eight inches; and the shortest distance was about an inch and a half. The flies were invariably taken with the tongue, which very seldom missed its aim. The movement is very rapid, so that one cannot be certain of its precise nature; but it appears as if the red fleshy tip of the tongue, covered with thick glutinous mucus, made the fly stick to it. The tongue, thus thrust forth, appears, in a full-sized chameleon, to be a cylindrical fleshy organ as thick as a swan's quill. Before making a dart, you may observe that one of the eyes, wandering about, catches sight of the fly at convenient striking-distance, and fixes eagerly upon it; and the other eye instantly converges, as if the animal were squinting; then the mouth slowly opens, the tongue is darted, and the chameleon chops up the insect apparently with infinite relish. Our smallest chameleon could shoot out the tongue to a distance of four inches.

These animals, leaving the damaged ones out of the question, were of different dispositions. Two of them, inclined to be frequently dark-coloured, were very active, wild, and shy, always trying to get away, always hiding themselves, and biting and puffing at the least approach; the other three were more generally green and quiet, less shy and wild. The chameleon, therefore, though a very stupid animal, still possesses certain psychical endowments. Different specimens also differ in their degree of vital power, and in their nervous irritability, with which latter the tendency to change colour is closely connected.

This animal's media of communication with the outer world seem few and imperfect. The eye is the organ on which it most depends; and each eye being capable of independent action, and both projecting so as to have an immense range directly backwards, forwards, upwards, downwards, and outwards-the chameleon has in some respects double the amount of power of vision possessed by creatures, the action of whose eyes is consentaneous. The eyeball is, however, so closely covered up with opake green lid, that a very small aperture only is left, and nothing can be seen but what is directly before the eye. Hearing appears to be nearly or quite absent, as we often proved by experiment; and smell is totally wanting. Taste seems doubtful; what there is seems to reside in the tongue, mostly at the tip; but whether it be true taste, or merely such refined sensibility as serves the animal to distinguish a fly from anything else, I know not. When he opens his mouth to bite, he will close his jaws upon your finger, but not on any other substance you may insert; so that there is some sense sufficiently acute to discriminate thus much. We procured several more chameleons in Alexandria, and brought them to England. A passenger on board the ship had a chameleon from the East Indies. This creature was larger and coarser-looking than the Egyptian specimens, the skin-plates larger, and the green colour duller and coarser. It was fed every day upon one or two little bits of raw meat, each about the size of a fly, and seemed to do very well upon this diet. We therefore adopted the same plan with our Egyptian chameleons; but they gradually pined away and died-the smallest and youngest first, then the old ones, some on board ship, the remainder after landing; so that in a few weeks not one survived.

These chameleons, like those from Nubia, differed in disposition; one was timid, another obstinate, another pugnacious, and so on. When two of equal size happened to meet upon the same perch, as they slowly strode along it, they would stop with their noses about an inch apart, their eyes would converge till they stared one another full in the face, they came out all over in spots like a leopard, then turned nearly black, at the same time arching their backs and bellies, and flattening in their sides, till they assumed the shape of a couple of flounders; then they butted at each

other with their noses, and tried, in a weak, harmless way, to knock one another off the perch, until one or both got tired and retreated.

On the Zoophytes of Caithness. By C. W. PEACH.

The author commenced by extolling the utility of local catalogues of Natural History, and stated that he was desirous of showing how rich the Scottish shores were in these lovely gems. He then mentioned Mr. J. Macgillivray's list, the result of about three weeks' examination on the Aberdeen coast, as the only Scottish one he had (it contained 64 species), and then proceeded to compare his own with those of Couch's for Cornwall and Alder's for Durham and Northumberland; the former contains 124 species, the latter 164, thus giving a preponderance of 40 species to Alder's. Mr. A. formed his comparison from the List of Cornish Zoophytes published by the Royal Institution of Cornwall: therefore it is not correct; for since that was published, very many have been added both by the author and others, so that he believed the difference, when these were taken in, would be very small. He enumerated his 150 species; and thus a balance of 14 only is left against Caithness, &c. He believed this will soon be reduced when greater attention has been paid to the freshwater ones and the more obscure forms, and when the dredge has been used *; for hitherto all had been collected between tide-marks and from the refuse of the fishermen's lines, and all (with the exception of Plumularia myriophyllum, at Peterhead, by the Rev. Mr. Yuill) by himself and sons: the greatest number of southern forms being found at Wick as well, the Wick list is a little the longest. A few forms found at Peterhead are wanting at Wick, and vice versa. The specimens were exhibited, and the greater part presented to Marischal College Museum.

Notes on Different Subjects in Natural History, illustrated by specimens. By C. W. PEACH.

MARINE ANIMALS.-Mr. Peach placed on the table specimens of marine animals from the Caithness coast and other places. Amongst them was a fine specimen of "Yarrell's Blenny," found by his son Benjamin in a rock-pool near Ackergill Castle; also a pretty one of the "Corkwing," Crenilabrus Norwegicus, obtained by his son Joseph in Scapa Bay, Orkney. Although often taken in Cornwall and Devon, it is not noticed in Yarrell's second edition of the 'British Fishes' as having been found further north than the Firth of Forth. Prof. Nilsson considers it common on the coast of Norway and in the Baltic; hence its specific name Norwegicus. The most intereresting specimen exhibited was the nest of an Annelide, Pontobdella. This worm is parasitical on Rays. The nidi were attached to an oyster-shell which came from the Firth of Forth, and attracted the notice of R. Boyd, Esq., Collector of Customs at Wick, and was kindly sent to the author by him. Fortunately, on examination, the young were found enclosed in the capsule-like nest, and in so perfect a form that the genus and species could be determined. A special interest attaches to this, from so little being known of the early stages of Annelides. There were several other interesting objects exhibited, especially a splendid specimen of Sponge, Halichondria palmata, from the Pentland Frith. The author presented Yarrell's Blenny, with the sponge and several of the objects exhibited, to the Museum of Marischal College.

On the Genus Cydippe. By JOHN PRICE, M.A.

The author attributed the little acquaintance with that beautiful creature C. pileus to the frequent disappointment experienced in attempts to domesticate it. He had himself succeeded in keeping them alive and well for thirteen months, long before the invention of the "aquarium" proper. The first and most essential point is to catch perfect specimens. He recommended for this the use of a tin ladle having the mouth quite in the side, that the attempt should be made in a calm only, and that

Since this paper was read, the author has added four others, and the pretty anemone Corynactis viridis which he got at Stroma; it is the first time he has seen it on the Scottish shore.

those should be selected among the specimens, whose trains are already retracted. When deposited in the aquarium undamaged, C. pileus thrives remarkably well, and is one of the most joyous of creatures in confinement. Its natural food is prawns, and a rarer kind of shrimps-not the common shrimp. Beroë is the natural food of Cydippe; but if placed in the same vessel, the interesting spectacle will be afforded of the deglutition by one transparent animal of another equally pellucid.

On the Distribution of British Butterflies. By Mr. H. T. STAINTON. Among the insect tribes, the Scale-wings,' or order Lepidoptera, has always attracted a considerable amount of attention; the variety and beauty of the butterfly tribe is a matter of notoriety. The order Lepidoptera includes two great divisions, butterflies and moths; the former group all fly by day, whereas most of the moths are nocturnal in their habits. It has been calculated that there are not less than 50,000 different species of Lepidoptera on the globe. More than 3000 species of butterflies are already known; and it has been computed that the moths are sixteen times as numerous.

In this country the proportion of moths is much greater, being nearly thirty to one; but then we are remarkable throughout Europe for our poverty in butterflies. As already observed, in the whole world 3000 species of butterflies are already known; of these only one-tenth occur in Europe, the tropical parts of Asia and America being by far the most numerously populated with this beautiful tribe of insects.

In central Europe or Germany 186 species of butterflies have been observed, the remaining 120 European species being peculiar to Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, or Lapland. Of the German species, 94 occur in Belgium, but only 65 in England-though we possess one species, Erebia Cassiope, which does not occur in Belgium.

All the British butterflies occur in England, but little more than half (only 33) are found in Scotland, and scarcely more in Ireland.

Twenty-five species may be considered as generally distributed and common; but it should not be understood that these are everywhere to be met with, but simply that their geographical range is not limited, and that where they find suitable localities we may expect to meet with them from Norfolk to Killarney, and from the Isle of Wight to Caithness. Some frequent gardens, some meadows, some heaths, some woods, and some hedgerows and lanes.

Twenty-five other species, which all occur in the south-east of England, thin out as we advance northwards and westwards; only five of them occurring in Scotland, and only fourteen in Ireland.

Three species, two of which are common in the mountainous parts of Scotland, do not occur at all in the south of England.

Seven species are local to particular limited districts in the Midland Counties or the south of England.

Three species of rare occurrence in this country must be looked upon as stragglers from the Continent; one of them, Vanessa Antiopa, has occurred in the south-west of Scotland and at Dunbar.

Two other species, which formerly occurred in restricted English localities, now appear to be extinct there.

It has been observed by Dr. Speyer, who has devoted considerable time to the subject of the geographical distribution of the butterflies of Germany, that the number of species there decreases from east to west and from south to north; but the latter circumstance is partly owing to the configuration of the country, the Alps being particularly rich in butterflies.

That butterflies are not regularly distributed according to latitude, is evinced by the simple fact, that in Lapland, which is situated considerably further north than the Shetland Isles, they enumerate seventy-seven species, whereas Scotland only boasts of thirty-three. Silesia, on the eastern side of Germany, but in the same latitude as Belgium, has 124 species, about one-third more than Belgium, which only numbers ninety-four. Berlin, though further north than Paris, has more

species of butterflies, the numbers being ninety-six and eighty-nine; and the neighbourhood of Berlin is, as any traveller can testify, very monotonous, and not particularly likely to yield any extra variety of forms.

In the same way we find that there are fewer species of butterflies in the western counties of England than in the eastern counties.

Dr. Speyer has suggested that the more continental character of the climate of Eastern Germany, the greater cold in winter, and greater heat in summer, was favourable to the development of butterfly-life, and tended therefore to account for the greater number of species there. This theory is certainly corroborated by the distribution of the species with us: their maximum is reached in those portions of England which have the most continental climate.

In respect of the species peculiar to moors and mountains, it is needful to bear in mind that it is not latitude that effects their distribution, but the position of mountain chains of sufficient elevation. Thus the London entomologist travels north to obtain species which an entomologist at Brussels would seek in the south; and even in Ireland an entomologist would need to go southwards to obtain species in Kerry, which an Edinburgh entomologist would seek in the Highlands. Though Canonympha Davus is unknown in Southern England, simply because we have no boggy mosses there, yet in Bavaria we meet with mosses similar to Chat Moss near Manchester, and there this insect is again abundant.

From a comparison of the species which occur in Ireland with those found in Scotland, it appears that all the twenty-five, generally common species, occur in Scotland, though three, Argynnis Silene and Euphrosyne, and Thymele Alveolus, have not yet been detected in Ireland; of the more southern forms, fourteen occur in Ireland, but only five in Scotland; on the other hand, one of the mountain species common in Scotland, Erebia Blandina, has not yet been found in Ireland; and one straggler, Vanessa Antiopa, has occurred in Scotland, but not in Ireland.

In short, six species occur in Scotland but not in Ireland; on the other hand, eleven in Ireland, but not in Scotland.

Of the twenty-five more southern species, one, Vanessa Io, attains the latitude of Edinburgh on the eastern side of our island, and occurs right across the country, having been found at Falkirk and Renfrew. Of the remaining twenty-four, seven stop short at Darlington, nine at York, and eight at Peterborough ;-that is, these are, speaking roundly, their northern limits on the eastern side of the island; several of them travel further north on our western shores; thus Colias Edusa, which is unknown at Newcastle-on-Tyne, has appeared in Dumfriesshire, in Ayrshire, and in the Isle of Arran. Argynnis Paphia, which has not actually occurred quite as far north as Darlington, has been observed at Arrochar, and even in the neighbourhood of Rannoch.

Of the three moor and mountain species, Canonympha Davus is that which is found furthest south in England; it occurs near Uttoxeter, and is plentiful on the mosses between Warrington and Manchester; it also occurs at Thorne Moor in Yorkshire, and on wet bogs near Newcastle and near Carlisle. In Scotland it is very general on mosses and hill-tops. In Ireland it occurs in the counties of Cork and Kerry.

Erebia Blandina is first found at Wharfdale in Yorkshire, then at Colne, Kendal, and at Castle Eden Dene. In Arran, Argyleshire, Dumbartonshire, Perthshire, &c., it is widely distributed.

Erebia Cassiope is not found further south than Langdale Pikes and Styehead Tarn; it always occurs at a great elevation, from 1500 to 2000 feet above the level of the sea. In Scotland it occurs on Ben Lomond and on some of the Perthshire mountains. In Ireland it occurs at Galway and Donegal.

With regard to those species which are excessively local with us, the circumstances which cause their restriction to such very confined localities are at present unknown to us. They are not so restricted on the continent; Papilio Machaon and Polyommatus Acis are universally distributed in Germany; and with the exception of Pamphila Acteon, all our other local species are very generally distributed in Germany, though not occurring in every district.

Of the three stragglers in this country, Pieris Daplidice, Argynnis Lathonia, and Vanessa Antiopa, the two former seem confined to the southern counties of England,

not ranging north of Peterborough; but Vanessa Antiopa is most plentiful between the Humber and the Tyne, and has more than once been observed in Scotland.

Of the two species which may be considered extinct with us, one, Chrysophanus Dispar, used to be abundant at Whittlesea Mere; but since that was drained, causing cornfields to wave where reeds had formerly held undisputed sway, the insect has disappeared. Similar fen districts still exist in Norfolk and Suffolk; but though the insect has been sought there in its most likely haunts, no recent captures are known. With reference to the distribution throughout the globe of our sixty-five British butterflies, it may be remarked that fifty-nine occur in Asia, twenty-seven are found south of the Mediterranean, several cross the Atlantic, and one, Cynthia Cardui, is cosmopolitan.

Dr. Dickie, in his able paper on the Distribution of the Aberdeenshire Plants, divided, according to Mr. Watson's suggestion, our British Flora into the British, English, Germanic, Atlantic, Scottish and Highland types.

It may readily be conceded that the twenty-five generally common butterflies correspond to the British type of plants; the twenty-five more southern butterflies to the English type; but unless we refer the three moor and mountain species to the Highland type, we cannot follow the same system of classification further.

We have not a single butterfly peculiar to our west coast, nor a single one peculiar to the north; the circumpolar species which occur in Lapland do not reach us; neither have we any one species peculiar to the eastern coast of England. We simply trace, as we advance northwards, a gradual decrease in the number of species: every one of our British butterflies is abundant in the South of Germany.

Account of the Fish-rain at Aberdare in Glamorganshire.
By the Rev. W. S. SYMONDS.

The evidence of the fall of fish on this occasion was very conclusive. A specimen of the fish was exhibited, and was found to be the Gasterosteus leiurus, Cuv.

On Drift Pebbles found in the Stomach of a Cow.
By the Rev. W. S. SYMONDS.

The author exhibited thirty pebbles, one of them weighing three-quarters of a pound, found in the stomach of a cow lately killed at Barton-under-Needwood, Burton-on-Trent. The pebbles belong to the Northern drift of geologists, which abundantly overlies the New Red Sandstone of the district; and they are remarkably glazed and polished by the action of the cow's stomach. The weight of the pebbles is five pounds, and the animal appeared perfectly healthy and fat when killed by Mr. Goodman, butcher, of Barton-under-Needwood, to whom reference may be made.

Note on Falco Islandicus and F. Grænlandicus.

By JAMES TAYLOR, Medical Student, Aberdeen.

Falco Grænlandicus and F. Islandicus have been confounded by some writers; they are considered distinct by Mr. Hancock, and Mr. Taylor's observations confirm this view; F. Gyr-falco Norvegicus is an allied species. F. Islandicus is largest, viz. 234 inches; in the adult of both sexes the predominating colour is brownishgrey spotted. F. Grænlandicus is intermediate in size, viz. 22 inches; in the adult of both sexes the predominating colour is bluish brown, and greyish white beneath. F. Gyr-falco Norvegicus, an allied species, is smaller than either.

The author has seen all the three species, and the F. Grænlandicus more than 200 miles over the south-west ice in Greenland. When on the cliffs which they frequent, this last species rests in a leaning position, as if on the point of commencing flight. The F. Grænlandicus is rather indiscriminate in choice of food, capturing ptarmigan, puffins, gulls, and various species of sea birds.

On the Employment of the Electrical Eel, Gymnotus Electricus, as a Medical Shock-Machine by the Natives of Surinam. By Prof. GEORGE WILSON. This paper was an appendix to a communication "On the Electric Fishes as the