iv Journal of Proceedings.
all the villages round. It is a shy bird, and does not appear until forced
by hunger."
Mr. English said that, in his opinion, the great habitat of the Hawfinch
in Essex was Epping Forest. He had seen flocks of two hundred to
three hundred at one time. They fed principally upon the seeds of the
hornbeam (Carpinus), and in winters like the present, when hornbeam-
seeds were scanty and the weather very severe, they spread over the
country to villages and gardens in search of food.
Mr. H. J. Barnes said that a friend of his had a living specimen of the
Hawfinch caught during the late frost, in Victoria Park, South Hackney.
Mr. W. White read a paper entitled, "Is Vanessa polychloros the
prototype of V. Urticae? A query suggested by the aberrant form of a
specimen of V. Urticae of polychloros type" [Transactions, ii., 1]. Mr.
White exhibited specimens in illustration of his paper, and the President
also brought up some British and foreign species of the genus Vanessa,
for the purpose of emphasizing some critical and extended observations
upon Mr. White's essay.
Professor Boulger gave a careful and lengthy exposition of his views on
that difficult question, "The Evolution of Fruits" [Transactions, ii., 8],
illustrating his observations by specimens and drawings on the black-
board.
Hearty votes of thanks were passed to Mr. White and to Prof. Boulger
for their communications.
At the Conversazione Mr. C. Oldham exhibited a series of crag-fossils
from Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, and a white aberration of the Hedge-
Sparrow (Accentor modularis) from Wisbeach St. Mary's, Cambridgeshire.
Saturday, March 26th, 1881.—Ordinary Meeting.
The fourteenth Ordinary Meeting was held at the head-quarters at
seven o'clock, the President in the chair.
Donations of books and pamphlets (exclusive of exchanges with various
Societies) were announced from Mr. B. G. Cole (2 vols.), Mr. W. H. Dalton,
and Miss E. A. Ormerod, and thanks voted to the donors.
Mr. A. Lockyer announced that the Library and Museum had been
furnished, and that various gifts and aid had been afforded by Messrs.
P. Copland, A. Lockyer, and H. A. Cole.
The following persons were elected members of the Club:—G. H.
Baxter, W. H. Bird, F. Cory, M.D., L.R.C.P., F.R.G.S., &c, A. G. Challis,
W. H. Edinger, F. G. Harrison, Clermont Livingston, M.E.S., George
Perry, Mrs. Perry, Henry Spring, and A. J. Yorston.
The President exhibited some specimens of the small destructive beetle,
Hylurgus piniperda, which had been sent to him for identification. They
had been confined in a glass tube fitted with a cork, and they had eaten
their way out into the open air, completely destroying the cork,