Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/461

Rh is an acid derivative of chlorophyll, produced by the action of the digestive juices on the chlorophyll of the food." This may seem dry reading, but it is highly important to grasp some of these technical facts before launching one's boat on the pleasant waters of theoretical speculation on the problem of animal colouration.

have been sent to the leading ornithologists of this country to attend a meeting at Serajevo in Bosnia at the end of September. This reunion of bird-lovers will take place under the auspices of the Austro-Hungarian Government, and is promoted by Dr. Herman, of Budapest, and Dr. Lorenz, the Custos of the ornithological collections in the Vienna Museum. "The Hungarian Central Bureau," of which Dr. Herman is president, occupies itself greatly with the study of the migration of birds, and every year it publishes a detailed account of the observations from a small army of ornithologists, who record the migration in the various districts of the Austrian Empire. The excursions arranged in connection with the congress are likely to be full of interest. The Second International Ornithological Congress, which was held in Budapest in 1891, was perhaps the most successful gathering of naturalists that has yet taken place.

a meeting in Calcutta, of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in June last, Mr. F. Finn exhibited a living soft-shelled Tortoise (Emyda sp.?), and read the following remarks by Mr. W.K. Dods:—

"I got the Turtle, exhibited, on the evening of April 1st, when out after Eld's Deer, on one of the grassy plains near the mouth of the Sittang River. Though dry and burnt up at the time of my visit, this ground is a swamp during at least seven months of the year, after which, when the water, even in the Buffalo-wallows, begins to disappear, the Turtles and Water-snakes bury themselves in the mud, and lie off, till the first monsoon rains soften the soil and release them for another season. This particular individual was under about two inches of soil, so dry and heated by the sun as to be most disagreeable to walk on even with the protection to one's feet afforded by a heavy pair of shooting-boots. Originally the ground had been covered by a thick growth of grass, but that had all been burnt off before by a jungle fire, exposing the cracked soil to the full rays of the sun, and the small round breathing hole to the sharp eyes of my Burman guide. It was quite lively when dug out, and has never to my knowledge eaten anything since. It seems equally indifferent whether its residence is in a bag, a basket, an empty cartridge-box, or a pail of water. I saw the shells of several others lying about, but whether they had met their end by jungle fires or other causes I could not find out."