Abstract
LONDON
Linnean Society, February 15.- Mr. G. Bentham, F.R.S., president, in the chair.-Prof. Wyville Thomson, F.R.S., Prof. Allman, F.R.S., and Prof. W. T. Thiselton-Dyer were elected Fellows.-"On the Habits, Structure, and Relations of the Three-banded Armadillo,“by Dr. J. Murie. This animal is distinguished from the other members of the order Edentata by its habit of rolling itself into a ball like a hedgehog. The three bands act as hinges, by means of which this rolling-up is effected. It is also peculiar in walking; on the points of its toes, instead of, like other armadillos, on the whole foot. It may be considered as a connecting link from the armadillo to the extinct glyptodon, and thence to the megatherium, and so on to the pachyderms.-"On a Chinese Artichoke-Gall,“by A. MUller. -“Comparative Geographical Distribution of Butterflies and Birds,“by W. F. Kirby. The total number of species of birds is stated by Dr. Sclater as 7,500, and that of butterflies is about 7,700, showing a remarkable closeness. If the surface of the globe is marked off into the divisions proposed by Dr. Sclater, we find in the Palsearctic region (Northern Europe and Asia), including about 14,000,000 square miles, 630 species of butterflies and 630 of birds; in the Indian region, including Asia south of the Himalayas, about 1,200 butterflies and 1,500 birds; in the Australian region 725 butterflies and 1,000 birds; in the Nearctic or North American region, 480 butterflies and 660 birds; in the Neotropical or South American region, 4,200 butterflies and 2,250 birds; thus, in five divisions there is a preponderance of birds, which is balanced by a very large excess of butterflies in the sixth region.-An interesting discussion followed, in which Mr. A. R. Wallace, Mr. Sharpe, Mr. Stainton, and others took part, and it was shown that if Dr. Gray's estimate of the number of species of birds is taken, viz., 10,000, which is no doubt more correct than Dr. Sclater's, the apparent parallelism vanishes; that in limited districts, as the British Isles, there is no resemblance between the number of butterflies and of birds; that in Mr. Kirby's paper no reference is made to the number of birds in each region that are migratory, a most important consideration; and that the conditions of the natural features of the country, as the prevalence of forests, may be favourable to the abundance of insects, and unfavourable to that of birds.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 5, 335–336 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/005335a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/005335a0