Abstract
LONDON. Linnean Society, November 1.—Prof. S. H. Vines, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Mr. J. E. Harting exhibited and made remarks upon the following birds which had been recently forwarded to him for examination:—(1) A hybrid between blackcock and red grouse, shot at Brechin, N.B., September 14. (2) A glossy ibis, killed at Saltash, Devon, October 4. (3) A little owl, obtained at Dunmow, Essex, October 22. Mr. F. D. Godman concurred in identifying the game-bird as; a hybrid between the species named, and considered such hybrids of rare occurrence, while examples of a cross between blackcock and pheasant were not nearly so uncommon. Mr. Howard Saunders regarded the little owl (Carine noctua) as having little if any claim to be considered a British bird; its occasional appearance in England being due to the fact that a good many had been turned out from time to time in different counties.—Mr. George Massee exhibited a series of coloured drawings and an extensive collection of fungi.—Dr. Charles Chilton, M.A., F.L.S., read a paper on the terrestrial isopods of New Zealand.—M. J. E S. Moore read a paper on the character and origin of the “park-lands” in Central Africa. These park-lands in the Tanganyika district have quite the appearance of having been formed by the hand of man, but are really natural growths, due to the fact that light surface-soil has been laid down over what appear to have been lake-deposits. Any given line of country will show large plantations, with quite a home-like look, separated by grasslands; and, as Tanganyika is approached, they dwindle in size till they consist of a few shrubs, overshadowed by giant euphorbias, cactus-like in appearance. Then come stretches of grass, dotted with euphorbias, and, last of all, the salt steppes by the lake, which is now held to have had at one time an outlet to the sea. Mr. Moore's explanation is that at first only the euphorbias would grow on the salt steppes; but as these sprang up they afforded a shade and shelter to self-sown shrubs, each of which, as it established a footing, contributed to the natural planting of the area by the distribution of its seeds, till this process reached its highest development in the large plantations where the shrubs overtopped the euphorbias to which they owed their growth.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 63, 97–100 (1900). https://doi.org/10.1038/063097b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/063097b0