A communication was read from Mr. Carl Bock, in which he gave the description of two new species of shells from China and Japan.
A communication was read from Mr. Edgar A. Smith, containing the description of five new shells from the island of Formosa and the Persian Gulf, with notes upon some known species.
Messrs. Godman and Salvin read the descriptions of some apparently new species of Butterflies from New Ireland and New Britain, received from the Rev. G. Brown.
Mr. 0. Salvin read the twelfth of a series of reports on the collection of birds made duriug the voyage of H.M.S. 'Challenger.' The present paper contained an account of the Procellariidae, collected during the Expe- dition. Eighty specimens had been obtained belonging to twenty-two species.
Mr. Sclater read some supplementary notes on the Curassows now or lately living in the Society's Gardens.
Mr. J. Wood-Mason read a paper on the structure and development of the trachea in the Indian Painted Snipe (Rhynchæa bengalensis).
This Meeting closes the present Session. There will be no more Scientific Meetings until the commencement of the next Session in November next.
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.
As a review is of no value unless it conveys the candid and impartial opinion of the critic, we may slate at once that we are a little disappointed iu this volume. The title, albeit a taking one, scarcely expresses the author's meaning; for, strictly speaking, he was not in the Arctic Regions at all, but merely travelled, by a well-known route, to a spot within the Arctic Circle, where the midnight sun may be seen. His tour was the ordinary one, by rail and carriole through the southern part of Norway, and by steamer along the coast to Ttomso. Hence, considering the number of books already published about Norway, it is difficult to comprehend the raison d'être of the present volume.
