ELEVENTH ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, 21st March, 1864.

JAS. A. PICTON, Esq., F.S.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair

Mr. MOORE exhibited a fine stuffed specimen of the Swordfish (Xiphias gladius), recently added to the Derby Museum. It measured nine feet in length, and was taken in October, 1862, by some men in the employment of Mr. Wiseman, oyster merchant, in a small creek near Pagglesham, a few miles from Southend, Essex. It was floundering about apparently in an exhausted state. A short notice of its capture is printed in the Zoologist for December, 1862, p. 8289.

Mr. TURNER exhibited from the Museum of the Royal Institution a portion of the hull of a ship, in which was imbedded the sword, or gladius, of a fish of this family, apparently of the genus Histiophorus.

The PRESIDENT pointed out the special adaptation of the form of the body and tail of the fish for rapid progress through the water, and for producing the momentum necessary for such effects as that shewn by the piece of timber exhibited by Mr. Turner, and of which several examples are known.

Mr. MOORE also exhibited the first portion of a collection. of specimens of marine zoology, made during the voyage, just completed, from Liverpool to Shanghai and back, by Captain F. E. Baker, ship Niphon, an Associate of the Society. The entire collection, contained in upwards of fifty bottles, had been most kindly presented to the Derby Museum by Captain Baker. It consists chiefly of the smaller and more minute forms of marine life, which though often occur

ring in considerable abundance, are so rarely collected and preserved. The specimens exhibited consisted of two species of Janthina and their rafts, a beautiful specimen of a rare Cephalopod, Branchia scabra, two species of Velella, а beautiful little Physalia, or Portuguese "man of war," several species of Ericthys, &c. Additional specimens will be exhibited at future meetings of the Society, and a more detailed list given, accompanied by the notes of Captain Baker.

TWELFTH ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION 4TH APRIL 1864.

JAS. A. PICTON, Esq., F.S.A., President, in the Chair.

Mr. F. ARCHER, Jun., exhibited some beautifully preserved specimens of the larvae of butterflies and moths, prepared by Mr. Baker at Cambridge. The life-like appearance of these specimens attracted considerable attention. He stated that these were the first of the kind which had been seen in this country, and he read a passage from the Zoologist for 1856, in which Dr. Collingwood had described the process by which they were prepared.

Dr. COLLINGWOOD said he had been struck by the exhibition of such objects in the Imperial Cabinet of Zoology in Vienna, in 1855, and was informed by the director, Herr Redtenbacher, of the method of preparation employed, which he had afterwards communicated to the Entomological Society. It did not appear that until now any English entomologists had attempted the preparation of such insects, which was a difficult operation; and he hoped that the present specimens would be added to the Free Public Museum.

Mr. PICTON added that he thought he might say that such would be the case.

The Rev. H. H. HIGGINS exhibited some completely fossilised fragments of bones, apparently of large animals, which he had found in a gravel pit by the river Ouse, at Biddenham, near Bedford. They were taken from a place near which a flint implement had been discovered a short time before, at the bottom of a bed of sand about eleven feet below the surface of the soil.

A NOTICE, BY MR. OLIVIER BEAUREGARD, OF THE COLLECTION OF EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES MADE BY DR. GODARD, AND PRESENTED TO THE MUSEUM OF BORDEAUX IN 1862.

BY WILLIAM UNWIN, ESQ.

This paper was an analysis of Mr. Beauregard's book, which consists of an account of the labours, fatigues, sufferings, and death of that devotee of science, in Egypt and Palestine, whither he had gone on a scientific mission from the French Government to study diseases peculiar to those regions; also, a description of Dr. Godard's collection of objects of archæological interest, and which consists ofStelès, or funereal tablets; papyri; mythological figures, and emblems of the religion of the Egyptians; funereal statuettes ; Scribes' pallettes; fragments of mummies and bandages; tokens and coins of Greco-Romanic times; objects from Modern Egypt, such as vestments worn by ladies of the harem, and an account of their religious emblematical signification. Mr. Beauregard's opinion was, that the Egyptians had, behind all their idols, emblems, and symbols, a much purer religion than hitherto they have credit given them for. He believed that the Christian religion itself, if judged of from the material diagnosis it presents when studied in the sculptures of our temples (Notre Dame of Paris, for example), pictures, and statues, would be seriously misinterpreted. The paper concluded with an imaginary report which might be made by a commission of the Institute of a nation to arise 4,000 years hence, and which, after obtaining a key to the French language, had come to France to study from the sculptures, &c., in the temples, the religion, morals, and manners of the French.

A second paper was also read, entitled:

THE GOOD OLD TIMES.

BY D. BUXTON, ESQ., F.R.S.L,

THIRTEENTH ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, 18th April, 1864.

J. A. PICTON, F.S.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

Messrs. Hermann Fischer and Joseph Burne were balloted for, and duly elected ordinary members.

Mr. MOORE exhibited several interesting specimens of animals lately added to the museum, including an example of the Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrula), lately obtained in the neighbourhood; and also several curious marine worms and entomostraca.

J. A. PICTON, F.S.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

It was announced that the Annual Dinner of the Society would be held some time about the end of the present month, at a time and place to be arranged by the Committee.*

Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S, of the British Museum, and Professor Rolleston, F.R.S., of Oxford, were proposed as Honorary members of the Society, on the recommendation of the Council.

The Anniversary Dinner was celebrated at Childwall Abbey on Thursday, June 2nd, and was very successful. The only drawback was the absence of his Worship the Mayor, Charles Mozley, Esq., who was prevented from being present by severe indisposition.

K