The Zoologist/3rd series, vol 1 (1877)/Issue 1/Proceedings of Scientific Societies
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.
Linnean Society of London.
November 2, 1876.—Prof. Allman, President, in the chair.
Mr. Duppa Crotch exhibited a live specimen of the Norwegian Lemming, with charts showing the nature of the ground traversed in two instances in which he himself had witnessed the westerly migration of this singular little rodent.
Mr. G. Bentham read a paper on the distribution of the Monocotyledonous order into primary groups, more especially in reference to the Australian flora, with notes on some points of terminology.
Dr. Francis Day drew attention to examinations he had made on some Irish Sticklebacks (Gasterostei). Abnormal variations in the presence and absence of ventral fin and spines in specimens of the Three-spined and Ten-spined Sticklebacks induce him to consider these appendages of doubtful specific value.
Mr. H.W. Bates communicated a paper by Mr. D. Sharp on the respiratory function of the Carnivorous Water Beetles (Dytiscidæ). Experiments made by the author on numerous species show that there are wide differences in the length of time they spend submerged and on the surface for breathing purposes. Most specimens of the group are more active by night than by day.
Prof. Dickie gave a supplementary notice of Marine Algæ obtained in the 'Challenger' Expedition. Of some fifty species one only is new.
A description of Thaumantis pseudaliris and Amesia pexifascia, two new Lepidopterous forms from Malacca, by Mr. A.G. Butler, was taken as read.
The same author also had a communication on the genus Euptychia, a revision, with the addition of twelve new species being made. A case of these butterflies was exhibited in illustration of his paper.
A second communication, by Mr. D. Sharp, referred to new species of Beetles (Scarabæidæ) from Central America. These had been captured by Mr. Belt, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Chontales.
Mr. A. Peckover exhibited and made a few remarks on two skins of the young of the Madagascar insectivore, Hemicentetes nigriceps, Günth., and on a series of insects from the same island, collected by Mr. A. Kingdon, near Antananarivo.
Mr. E.D. Crespigny showed a specimen of the Umbelliferous plant, Tordylium maximum, Linn., obtained near Tilbury Fort, a locality where it had disappeared for a considerable length of time.
November 16, 1876.—Prof. Allman, President, in the chair.
Messrs. J.C. Oman, R.H. Peck, and D.G. Rutherford were duly elected Fellows.
Mr. H.N. Moseley, of H.M.S. 'Challenger,' read a paper on the Flora of Marion Island. This island possesses considerable interest from its isolation and being within the Antarctic drift. It is about 1000 miles from the African continent, 450 from the Crozets, 1200 from the desolate Kerguelen Island, above 2000 from Tristan D'Acunha, and 4500 from the Falklands, to which, nevertheless, its Flora appears related. It is of volcanic origin and snowclad. The rocks at half-tide are covered with Darvilea utilis, above high tide Tillæa moschata is found in abundance, and beyond the beach a swampy peaty soil covers the rocks, where there is a thick growth of herbage; this is principally composed of species of Acæna, Azorella, and Festuca, the first of these three being the most abundant plant on the island, though the latter grass is by no means scarce. The cabbage-like plant, Pringlea antiscorbutica, is less profuse than at Kerguelen's Land. Some of the Ranunculus group are met with at water-pools near the sea; four kinds of Ferns were obtained, Lomaria alpina being the most numerous. Lichens are scarce, but Mosses in plenty form yellow patches, which stand out conspicuously midst the green vegetation, which rises to an altitude of probably 2000 feet. From the occurrence of Pringlea on Marion Island, the Crozets, and Kerguelen Island, and the existence of fossil tree-trunks on the two latter, the author surmises an ancient land-connection between them.
Mr. Moseley exhibited some insular floral collections in illustration of his paper and of the various parts touched at by the 'Challenger.' He also called attention to a series of volumes and pamphlets on Natural History obtained by him in Japan.
A memoir on the birds collected by Prof. Steere (Michigan, U.S.) in the Philippine Archipelago was read by Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, and numerous coloured drawings of the new and rare forms were exhibited and commented on. Although it is but lately that Lord Tweeddale's remarkable monograph on the Philippine birds was published, with immense additions to the Avifauna, yet Prof. Steere's collection has yielded over sixty hitherto unknown species. Many novelties may therefore still be expected as further exploration proceeds. The recorded species of birds from the Philippines at present amount to 285.
A letter containing observations on the American Grasshopper (Caloptenus femur-rubrum), with remarks on the same, by Mr. F. Smith, was noticed.
December 7, 1876.—G. Bentham, Esq., Vice-President, in the chair.
Thirteen new Fellows were balloted for, and duly elected.
The botanical papers read were "New British Lichens," by the Rev. W.A. Leighton, and "A General Systematic Arrangement of of the Iridaceæ (the Iris family)," by J.G. Baker, of Kew.
Dr. Francis Day read a paper "On the Geographical Distribution of the Fresh-Water Fishes of India." He says that out of nine families of Spiny-rayed Fish (Acanthopterygians) only two are likewise found in the African region; but one of these is in Madagascar, therefore doubtfully African, the other is also found in the Malay Archipelago, which possesses representatives of eight out of nine families. The fresh-water fishes of Ceylon, the Andamans and Nicobars, he believes, are strictly Indian, while, as these fishes cannot be spread except by line of fresh- water communication, it thus appears highly probable that these islands were at one time connected with the Continent of India. Moreover, certain forms exist in Malabar which are absent from the rest of India, but reappear in the region of Chittagong or Siam. The evidence derived from his data shows that the Fauna of Hindostan preponderates towards the Malayan, and not African, region, as many aver.
Mr. Christy exhibited and made remarks on specimens of the so-called Black Coral (Antipathes) from the Philippines.
Zoological Society of London.
November 7, 1876.—Prof. Newton, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair.
The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie during the months of June, July, August and September, 1876.
A letter was read from Dr. Otto Finsch relating to the supposed existence of the Wild Camel (Camelus bactrianus) in Central Asia.
A letter was read from Mr. E. Pierson Ramsay, giving a description of the habits of some Ceratodi living in the Australian Museum, Sydney, which he bad lately received from Queensland.
Mr. W.K. Parker read a memoir on the structure and development of the skull in the Sharks and Rays.
Prof. A. Newton made a correction of some of the statements in Canon Tristram's "Note on the Discovery of the Roebuck in Palestine" (Proc. Zool. Soc, 1876, page 421).
Lieut.-Colonel Beddome gave the description of a new species of Indian Snake from Manantawaddy in the Wynaad Hills, which he proposed to name Platyplecturus Hewstoni.
Dr. G.E. Dobson communicated a monograph of the Bats of the group Molossi.
Dr. A. Günther read a report on some of the recent additions to the Collection of Mammalia in the British Museum, amongst the most remarkable of which was a new form of Porcupine, from Borneo, proposed to be called Trichys lipura; and a new Marmozet, obtained by Mr. T.K. Salmon, near Medellin, U.S. of Columbia, to which the name Hapale leucopus was given.
November 21, 1876.—Prof. Flower, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair.
The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie during the mouth of October.
Mr. Sclater exhibited and made remarks on the skin of a young Rhinoceros (R. sondaicus), belonging to Mr. W. Jamrach, which had been captured in the Sunderbunds, near Calcutta, in May last.
The Secretary exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Andrew Anderson, a coloured drawing of a specimen of Emys Hamiltoni, lately captured at Futtehgurh (Ganges). The occurrence of this Emys, chiefly confined to Lower Bengal, so far west as Futtehgurh, was considered as of much interest.
A letter was read from Count T. Salvadori, containing remarks on some of the birds mentioned by Signor D'Albertis, as seen by him during his first excursion up the Fly River.
A communication was read from Mr. G.B. Sowerby, jun., containing descriptions of six new species of shells, from the collections of the Marchioness Paulucci and Dr. Prevost.
Mr. Edward R. Alston read a paper containing the descriptions of two new species of Hesperomys from Central America, which he proposed to call respectively Hesperomys teguina and H. Couesi.
A paper was read by Professor Garrod on the Chinese Deer, named Lophotragus michianus, by Mr. Swinhoe, in which he contended that the species so called was identical with Elaphodus cephalophus (A. Milne-Edwards), obtained by Père David in Moupin. He pointed out the close affinity between the genera Elaphodus and Cervulus, the latter differing little more than in the possession of frontal cutaneous glands not found in the former.
Mr. Arthur G. Butler read a paper containing descriptions of new species of Lepidoptera from New Guinea, with a notice of a new genus.
A communication was read from Dr. J.S. Bowerbank, being the eighth of his series of "Contributions to a General History of the Spongiadæ."
December 5, 1876.—Dr. E. Hamilton, Vice-President, in the chair.
The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie during the month of November, and called particular attention to four Brazilian Cormorants (Phalacrocorax brasilianus), purchased, and a Hooded Crane (Grus monachus), received on deposit.
A letter was read from Count T. Salvadori, announcing that a new species of Paradise-bird of the genus Drepanornis, had been discovered near the most inland point of Geelvink Bay, New Guinea.
A communication was read from Mr. Andrew Anderson, containing some corrections of and additions to previous papers on the "Raptorial Birds of North-Western India."
Mr. Francis Day read a paper on the fishes collected by the Yarkand Mission, in 1873, to which the late Dr. Stoliczka was attached as naturalist. The paper gave an outline sketch of the Fresh-water Fishes of Hindostan, Afghanistan, Western Turkestan, Yarkand, Tibet, and Cashmere. The author showed that the principal fishes of Yarkand belong to a local group of Carps, termed "Hill Barbels, or Schizothoracinæ," by M'Clelland; that this group is almost restricted to cold and elevated regions, spreading to the most eastern portion of Western Turkestan, Afghanistan, and along the slopes of the Himalayas to China; and that these forms are entirely distinct from the Carps of the plains to the south of the Himalayas.
A communication was read from Mr. Martin Jacoby, giving descriptions of new genera and species of phytophagous Coleoptera.
A communication was read from Dr. A. Günther, containing the description of a new species of Lizard from Asia Minor, which he proposed to name Zootoca Danfordi, after Mr. C.G. Danford, its discoverer.
Dr. Günther communicated a paper by Mr. W. Ferguson, of Colombo, containing the description of a new species of Snake of the genus Aspidura from Ceylon, for which the name of A. Guentheri was proposed.—P.L. Sclater.
Entomological Society of London.
November 1, 1876.—Professor Westwood, M.A., President, in the chair.[1]
Additions to the Library.
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors:—'Proceedings of the Zoological Society,' 1876, parts ii. and iii.; by the Society. 'The Zoologist' and 'Newman's Entomologist' for November; by the Representatives of the late Edward Newman. 'The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine' for November; by the Editors. 'The Naturalist; Journal of the West Riding Consolidated Naturalists' Society,' no. xvi.; by the Editor. 'Nature,' nos. 362–365; by the Publishers. 'L'Abeille,' nos. 180 and 181; by the Editor, M.S.A. de Marseul. 'Iconographie de Chenilles et Lepidoptères inedits,' par E. Millière, tom. iii., part 35 (concluding the work); by J.W. Dunning. 'Catalogo della Collezione di Insetti Italiani del R. Museo di Firenze,' serie la, Coleotteri; 'Bulletino della Societa Entomologica Italiana,' anno ottavo, trimestre iii.; by the Society. 'Horæ Societatis Entomologicæ Rossicæ,' t. xi., nos. 2, 3 and 4; by the Entomological Society of Russia. 'The American Naturalist,' vol. x., nos. 9 and 10; by the Editor. 'Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis,' vol. iii., nos. 1–3; by the Society.
Exhibitions, &c.
Mr. F. Smith exhibited some remarkable specimens of thorns from Natal and Brazil, which had been taken possession of by certain species of Cryptoceridæ for the construction of their formicaria: some of them were as much as three inches in length.
Mr. Champion exhibited a bug sent by Mr. Walker from Besika Bay. It was figured in Guerin's Mag. de Zool. under the name of Mustha spinosula.
Professor Westwood mentioned that a caterpillar had been forwarded to him from Deal, the captor complaining that he had suffered from considerable irritation of the skin, caused by the hairs of the insect, and that the irritation had continued for a week afterwards. It was the larva of Lasiocampa rubi.
The Professor exhibited a singular Coleopterous larva, from Zanzibar, of a flattened, ovate form and a steel-blue colour, with two points at the extremity of the body and with long clavate antennæ: the head bore some resemblance to that of the Dipterous genus Diopsis. He also exhibited a specimen of the butterfly Hesperia Sylvanus, received from the Rev. Mr. Higgins, of Liverpool, having the pollinaria, apparently of an orchid, attached to the base of the tongue. Also the bulb of an orchid, purchased by Mr. Hewitson with a collection of roots from Ecuador, which was found to contain nine living specimens of cockroaches, comprising six different species, viz., Blatta orientalis, Americana, cinerea, Maderæ, and two others unknown to him, some being of considerable size.
Professor Westwood alluded to the varied nature of the collection recently exhibited at the "Exposition des Insectes utiles et des Insectes nuisibles," in Paris, and remarked on the absence in the list of exhibitors of the names of many distinguished French entomologists.
Mr. Dunning read the following:—
Note on Acentropus.
"In the Transactions of the Entomological Society of the Netherlands for the present year (Tijd. v. Entom. xix. 1), Heer Ritsema has published a Second Supplement to his 'Historical Review of the genus Acentropus;' and the author, writing in June, 1875, prefaces it with the welcome announcement that he has worked up the literature to the present time, 'as in all prohability I shall be able in this summer to complete the history of the mode of life and the different stages of A. niveus.'
"Whether this expectation has been fulfilled, either in 1875 or 1876, I do not know. But, however this may be, I am sure Heer Ritsema will be glad to learn that, though he and I failed to convince Newman that the genus is properly placed in the Lepidoptera, we did make a convert of Doubleday. In a Supplement to his 'Synonymic List of British Lepidoptera,' published in 1873, Doubleday for the first time admitted Acentropus into that order. Its precise place in the order is not indicated, but it is immediately followed in the Supplement by a species of Ebulea (Botydæ), which sufficiently shows that the position which Doubleday would assign to Acentropus is in or near the Hydrocampidæ.
"It may possibly be remembered that, in a paper which the Society did me the honour to publish in the 'Transactions' for 1872 (pp. 121 and 281), I adduced some arguments tending to show that there is really one species, and one only, of this genus; and in a note on p. 156, the position is thus summed up;—'I am quite in accord with Ritsema when he says that A. Hansoni, Garnonsii, Nevæ, badensis and germanicus are not specifically distinct from A. niveus; but I go a step further, and say that A. latipennis is identical with A. Hansoni.' Ritsema is now satisfied that A. latipennis is identical with A. Hansoni, but still thinks that there are two species, of "which one (A. niveus, Oliv. = A. Garnonsii, Curt.) has a female with rudimentary wings, and the other (A. latipennis, Möschl. = Zancle Hansoni, Ste.) has a female with normally developed wings. Doubleday, in the Supplementary Catalogue already mentioned, does not go into the synonymy at length, but records one species only, under the name of A. niveus, giving latipennis as a variety, thus:—
Acentropus niveus.Niveus, Olivier?
latipennis, Möschl., var.
"I am not able to throw any further light on the specific identity or distinctness of the two forms. Ritsema, however, refers to his having found many specimens, all males, at Arnheim, and to the capture at Huissen (near Arnheim) of a winged female, which he recognises as A. latipennis. 'By this capture' (says he, at p. 15), 'I am fortified afresh in the opinion that there are two species.... For it would be otherwise inexplicable that amongst the innumerable winged individuals captured by me at Overween, not a single female occurred, and that I, by breeding from larvæ coming from the same place, obtained only females (in number already amounting to fifteen), which were furnished with wing-rudiments and live in the water, whilst the first specimen that is captured at Huissen, inside the house at a lamp, is a female with well-developed wings.' I must confess that I cannot follow this reasoning. Be it remembered that no difference is suggested in the males from the different localities, and the supposed distinctness of the species rests entirely on the possession by the females in the one case of developed and in the other of rudimentary wings. From Arnheim and Huissen, males, and one winged female captured; from Overween, males, and fifteen unwinged females bred. Ergo, two species! Surely this is a non sequitur. It is, in fact, a repetition of Brown's argument (with which I dealt in the 'Transactions' for 1872, p. 142), that the winged female occurs in one locality, and the apterous females in another locality. I can scarcely see how the facts mentioned by Ritsema can be said to fortify any opinion one way or the other. So far from proving the duality, they are quite consistent with the unity of the species. And recalling the facts that Curtis and Dale took both forms of female at Glanville's Wootton, that Brown bred the apterous and McLachlan captured the winged form at Burton, and lastly that Ritsema himself, in 1870, found pupæ at Haarlem from which two females emerged, of which one had rudimentary and the other well-developed wings, I venture to hazard a conjecture, that if Ritsema perseveres with his breeding from Overween larvæ, he will obtain some females with wings as ample as those which flew to the lamp at Huissen.
"In conclusion, one word of regret, a tribute to Members this Society has lost. In the short period since the publication of my former paper on Acentropus, of those to whom I then referred as living authors, death has removed no less than three—Henry Doubleday, Edward Newman and Edwin Brown."— F.G.[2]
- ↑ See also: Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, p. xxxi f. (Wikisource-ed.)
- ↑ Ferdinand Grut (Wikisource-ed.)