carrier pigeon circled round to an altitude of about half a mile, and then sailed away towards London. By this time the train, which carried the European mails, and was timed not to stop between Dover and Cannonstreet, had got up to full speed, and was proceeding at the rate of sixty miles an hour towards London. The odds at starting seemed against the bird, and the railway officials predicted that the little messenger would be beaten in the race. The pigeon, however, as soon as it ascertained its bearings, took the nearest homeward route in a direction midway between Maidstone and Sittingbourne, the distance, "as the crow flies," between Dover and London being 70 miles, and by rail 76½ miles. When the Continental mail express came into Cannon-street Station, the bird had been home 20 minutes, having beaten Her Majesty's Royal Mail by a time allowance representing 18 miles.—From 'The Times,' July 14th.
Rare British Fishes off Babbicombe.—One of the rarest of British fishes—the Black-fish, Centrolophus pompilus—was taken this morning (June 15th) off Babbicombe, by Mr. Gaskin, of that place. It is curious that the seine inclosed at the same time another fish of great rarity, the Short Sun-fish, Orthagoriscus mola. Both were submitted to me for identification.—P.H. Gosse (Sandhurst, Torquay).
[The Black-fish is figured in Couch's 'Fishes of the British Islands' (vol. ii. p. 123, pi. xc), and all the specimens mentioned by that author seem to have been met with in Cornwall. He states, however, on the authority of Mr. Joshua Alder, that an example has been taken at Cullercoats. The Short Sun-fish will also be found figured in the same work (vol. iv. p. 877, pi. ccxlv.). This strange-looking fish is generally spoken of as rare, but on the south and west coasts can scarcely be considered so, for hardly a year passes without the capture of a few being reported. They are generally taken during the warmer months of the year.—Ed.]
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.
Linnean Society of London.
June 1, 1877.—Prof. Allmann, F.R.S., President, in the chair.
The first zoological paper read was by Mr. Robert M'Lachlan, viz., "On the Nymph Stage of the Embidæ, with Notes on the Habits of the Family. &c." The author stated that in 1837 Prof. Westwood (in Trans. Linn. Soc.) instituted the characters of Embia, a genus of insects allied to the white ant. Lately, therefore forty years after, Mr. Michael discovered some orchids partially destroyed by an insect found to belong to the Embidæ; and the nymph stage obtained fills a gap in its history. Mr. M'Lachlan, in allusion to the insect's habits, states that M. Lucas and
