quent victim to the herd-boy's gun. He is a pretty bird, very easily domesticated, but void of genius. He does not care to congregate, is not clamorous, and never goes far inland-perhaps not above a mile; but he shifts his roosting quarters frequently from one cave or rock to another, probably just because the wind shifts.

66

On the 19th of July last, I observed a migration of several hundreds of the common swift. I knew that these birds, breeding only once in the season, were the first of the swallow tribe to leave our shores, but I had no idea that they left us so early. I have not had any opportunity of watching their habits for nearly twenty years, as they do not frequent this peninsula; indeed these are the first I have seen here during a residence of nearly nineteen years. Perhaps I may mention the particulars of this flitting in as few words as possible. 1st, The weather was very warm and still, with a few fleecy clouds overhead. The hour was between five and six in the afternoon. 2d, The direction from which they came was N.E., as I thought-probably from Ayrshire. They passed over me as I stood on the shore, at a spot about five miles north of Portpatrick, and, holding on their way, I judged, that they would reach the Irish coast somewhere about Portaferry. 3d, Their flight was direct, and steady, and quiet-no wheeling nor screaming, such as they practise when feeding or sporting round some old gray tower. They seemed to have important business on hand, and went about it in a businesslike way. The level of their course was not high. They swept over the cliffs, which are not above 150 feet high, and seemed to retain the same level, as far as I could see them crossing the Channel. I should guess the height at about 250 feet, or even less. 4th, The order of flight. They travelled in a wide column. The individual birds were many yards asunder; some were 100 yards to one side, some as many to the other side of me, and in this fashion I observed them for fully twenty minutes; sometimes there were twenty in sight directly overhead, then half-a-dozen, then for a second or two there were none, and then another scattered detachment. In this order the stream flowed on, till at length it ceased. It is difficult to conjecture how many there may have been in all; at the time I guessed them at nearly a thousand. I never had an opportunity of witnessing the migrations of any of our smaller birds, except occasionally flights of linnets in beating up to windward before a gale; and I thought that to escape hawks they invariably moved under, cover of night. Larger birds, such as ducks, geese, swans, I have frequently seen on the move in daylight; while the swallows which congregate on our house-tops in September are found some morning to have made a night-flitting, and usually a moonlight one.

"There is another fact I may mention to you: On Friday, the 9th September, we had," he continues, "our first equinoctial gale. It lasted for about a week. On the 10th I picked up (at the place where I had seen the swifts in July) a stormy petrel, the Procellaria pelagica of the Atlantic. These birds were frequently seen off our shores in former times; but now they seem to keep outside of the Mull of Cantyre. Whether an increase of steam navigation has driven them from the Firth of Clyde to the open ocean, I cannot say. The same gale cast ashore a vast number of medusæ. So numerous were they that each tide left a belt of them, at high-water mark, of ten or twelve feet wide, all along the beach. There seemed to be only one species, of a pinkish shade, with four dull white eyes, and varied from two to four inches in diameter. They were not so fleshy as some species I have seen. Those washed up by one tide were found to be quite dry, and left little but a membrane when the next tide came in. The most remarkable result of the gale, was the destruction of many thousands of the short-winged

sea-fowls. From Corsewall Point to the Mull of Galloway, all round the shores of the Bay of Luce and of Loch Ryan, razor-bills and guillemots were lying in heaps. I did not observe any other species. I do not think it difficult to account for the destruction of these pretty birds. From the middle of June till the gale came on, the waters off our coast were literally swarming with the fry of various fish. The consequence was that the sea-fowl congregated in unusual numbers, which seemed to increase day by day. The storm came on suddenly, and was of unwonted violence for the season of the year. The fry were of course either driven off or compelled to retire from the surface. The longwinged gulls and gannets were able to get away by flight; while the short-winged razor-bills, who trust more to their paddles than their pinions, had nothing for it but either to breast the sea, or drift on to a lee shore. Deprived of food they could not long face the heavy sea that came rolling in from the Atlantic, and having struggled on for several days they were at last swept ashore-most of them dead, some so exhausted that they could make no effort to get away. Though thin, they were not so thin as to suggest starvation as the sole cause of their death; but want of food for several days, combined with the exhaustion induced by struggling so long against a head sea, seems sufficiently to account for the prodigious mortality among them. This is confirmed by the fact that no gulls nor gannets perished. The former easily obtained shelter and food on shore, while the latter, with their tremendous power of flight, escaped to sheltered bays and coasts.

"Several years ago we had a great mortality among the guillemots, but the features of the case were quite different. During a heavy fog in the month of April a large flock of these birds were seen circling over the point of the pier at Stranraer. Next morning they were found dead and dying, scattered all over the country, some of them miles inland. I presume they had been trading to the south--had in the mist mistaken the entrance of Loch Ryan for the Channel; that they were brought up by the shore, where they expected to find open sea; in fact, that they had lost their way, and perished in attempting to find it again.

"I cannot say that there is anything remarkable in our fauna. We have few rare birds. The quail is resident; it is known by the name of 'wet-my-foot,' words which its cry closely resembles; and the country people fancy that it is like the peacock and raven, vociferous before rain. The young quail early develops his pugnacity; although there are twelve or fifteen in a brood, they cannot live in harmony till able to fly; by the first of August they are broken up into parties of two or three. In summer we have the pippet, the blackcap, and the grasshopper warbler. The wild swan visits us in severe winters. Some years ago a wounded female remained on the lake at Lochnaw, and during several successive seasons bred with a male of the mute swan. The progeny were genuine mules, and did not breed. A golden eagle sometimes floats high overhead, trading between the Morne Mountains in Down and the solitudes above New Galloway. He occasionally descends to the ground.”

The Society were much indebted, Dr Smith said, to the Rev. Mr Bell for his communication, including, as it did, various interesting facts from his own observation. He exhibited a specimen of the chough sent him by Mr Bell, and also one from Cornwall, which had been presented to him by a friend. The bird was supposed by some of our ancient writers to be peculiar to Cornwall; and hence arose the name of the Cornish chough. În Cornwall, at least in the western part of the county, it seemed now to be rare, as Dr Smith had seen no specimens there during a visit he had the pleasure of paying last autumn to that most interesting county.

It was, however, a rare bird, although found at various places along the rocky coasts of Britain, and appeared to be abundant in Wigtonshire. It was found in the island of Mull, in Skye, and at St Abb's Head, on this side of the island. The account of the migration of the swift was also very interesting. It seemed to have been rather an early one; at least this bird is generally described as leaving us about the beginning or middle of August.

IV. (1.) Notice of a New Leaf Insect. By ANDRew Murray, Esq.

Mr Murray exhibited a beautiful photograph of the under side of a butterfly, in every respect exactly like a dead leaf. He had received it from Dr William Traill, H.E.I.C., presently stationed at Russelcondah in the Madras Presidency. Dr Traill, in transmitting the photograph, writes:-"I wished to have sent you a curious insect, brought to me as a leaf insect. In Singapore and the Straits, where a variety of these singular forms are found, they are all allied to the Orthoptera, or the genera Mantis, Empusa, Phasma, &c. I am a good deal accustomed to their various forms, but on this occasion I was completely taken in, and until the animal moved, I thought it a dead leaf. To my surprise, I found it to be a butterfly! When at rest, its two anterior wings (which are slightly falcate at the tip) were pushed forward in front of its head, so that a central line on them exactly met a similar central line on the posterior wings, so as to simulate the mid-rib of a leaf. The four wings so disposed presented the most exquisite resemblance to an autumnal leaf; and even the veining is represented with wonderful fidelity, especially if the animal is held two or three feet from the eye of the spectator. A remorse. less rat one night carried off the insect, along with the pin on which it was impaled; but I had a few days before got a photograph of it made, which I now send you. It is, however, very far from giving a just idea of the original. The upper side of the wings were most brilliantly coloured, but I do not remember exactly what colours." Of course, these brilliant colours will only be seen when the insect is in motion; when at rest, and more exposed to danger, the folding back of the wings conceals them, and shows only this extraordinary resemblance to a leaf. The resemblance is every whit as great as that exhibited by the leaf insect proper (Phyllium), only being that of a dead leaf instead of a green one. The insect appears to be undescribed, and, from its powers of concealment, is no doubt rarely captured. Most butterflies have lines on the anterior and posterior wings, often both above and below, which become continuous when placed in juxtaposition; and there are several exotic species which have a line similar to the mid-rib of a leaf figured upon the under side of the wings; but none hitherto described at all approach the present in its close resemblance to a leaf, both in shape, veining, and shading. It is impossible, from merely a photograph of its under side, to determine its genus; but from its falcate anterior and single-tailed posterior wings, it probably belongs to the same group of the Nymphalidæ as Amathusia and Zeuxidia.

(2.) Description of New Sertulariadæ, from the Coast of California. By ANDREW MURRAY, Esq. (With two Plates.)

The interest which attaches to the existence of closely allied forms in far distant regions induces me to publish the follow

ing isolated descriptions of five new Sertulariadæ from the coast of California.

With one exception, they are all most nearly allied to species found on the British coasts, viz. to Sertularia operculata, S. filicula, Plumularia falcata and Plumularia cristata; and I may notice that along with them I received the stems of a Eudendrium which I cannot distinguish from E. ramosum of our own coast, although, from the want of the vesicles it is impossible to decide whether it is a distinct species or not.

To secure absolute accuracy in the figures, they have been. drawn by the aid of the camera lucida.

1. Sertularia tricuspidata, Murr. Pl. VI. fig. 1.

Cells inversely pear-shaped and nearly opposite, a single one in the axilla of each pinna; mouth at end of cell, aperture obliquely truncate, tricuspid at the outer edge; middle cusp longest. Vesicles unknown.

The habit of this species is perfectly that of S. operculata. Its cells, however, are broader, shorter, stouter, and less acutely conical; they are not perfectly opposite; they do not meet each other at the base, and are more everted; they are tricuspid on the outer lip, the middle cusp being longest, and the lateral cusps are nearer it and more reflexed than is the case in S. operculata, when it has two lateral teeth.

It grows in tufts from 2 to 3 inches high, flexuose and serrulated, with polype-cells which are fully as much everted as is usually the case in this family, instead of being less so, as is the habit of S. operculata.

There were no vesicles in my specimens.

Bay of San Francisco.

2. Sertularia labrata, Murr. Pl. VI. fig. 2.

Cells nearly opposite, a single one in the axilla of each pinna; mouth at end of cell; lip distinct, not toothed; aperVesicles not known.

ture obliquely truncate.

Like S. filicula in habit. The cells, however, are differently shaped, more like those of the last species, but not toothed. The lip is distinct.

I have received only a minute portion, without vesicles.
Bay of San Francisco.

3. Sertularia corniculata, Murr. Plate VI. fig. 3. Cells not quite opposite, sometimes nearly alternate, forming an open cup resting on the stem; lip not distinct; exterior margin somewhat projecting at tip; a single one in the axilla of each pinna. Vesicles pear-shaped, with two long points projecting like horns at the thick end; aperture between them.

This is a very elegant little species, and is easily distinguished by the two long horns at the top of the vesicles, which remind one somewhat of a fool's-cap, and by the wholly open cells.

Bay of San Francisco.

Plate VII. fig. 1.

4. Plumularia gracilis, Murr. Stem slightly flexuose, branched; branches alternately pinnated; cells ranked closely in twos and threes; tubulous, with a plain rim slightly peaked in front; vesicles oblong-oval.

The characters of this Plumularia do not differ greatly from those of P. falcata; but its habit is so different that it can scarcely be mistaken for it. The branches are closer, and more thickly set, than in P. falcata; their arched disposition is wanting; and the whole plant has more the aspect of a Sertularia than a Plumularia. The cells are proportionally larger than in P. falcata; instead of a plain truncate rim, it has one slightly peaked in front, or excised at the sides. Each cell has also a sort of support, like a triangular buttress, below it, marked or lined off from the cell itself.

Bay of San Francisco.

5. Plumularia struthionides, Murr. Plate VII. fig. 2. Shoots simple, plumous, the pinnæ alternate; cells close, each occupying the whole of one side of the joint to which it is attached, cup-shaped, with a toothed margin, of which the teeth are unequal, the one in front projecting much more than the rest; vesicles gibbous, girt with toothed ribs.

This species is nearly allied to P. cristata, but is much closer in habit, both the pinnæ and the cells being nearer each