. , i a HFt fette ‘ Bit . (AGT Pye greeats tet! >? OG etal ary hyt ‘ Hutte sree a: es ote é M: > “4 i , Vedat? PROCEEDINGS Or THE SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FOR THE YEAR PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY, AND SOLD AT THEIR HOUSE IN HANOVER SQUARE. LONDON: MESSRS. LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER, PATERNOSTER ROW. LIST OF THE CON TRIBIUTORS, With References to the several Articles contributed by each. Page Apams, Henry, F.LS. Descriptions of a New Genus aad of Eighteen New Species or Polhisks:* “(Plates Tyr mn Sore Gee ie te sa es sss POR ae Description of a New Species of Fusus................ 110 List of Additional Species of Land and Freshwater Shells collected by Mr. E. Bartlett in Eastern Peru, with Descrip- tions of New Species. (Plate XXVII.) ................ 374 Descriptions of Ten New Species of Land and Freshwater Shells collected by Robert Swinhoe, Esq., in China and For- WosH. “Chiate wey tly OM Nate ee ee easter tise e's 377 Descriptions of Two New Species of African Land-shells. (Pilate URN aay) PGs. Ss Pee aes OF. Peis ST B78 Descriptions of Twenty-six New Species of Shells collected by Robert McAndrew, Esq., in the Red Sea. (Plate XLVIII.) 788 Descriptions of Two New Genera and Five New Species of Diaelis, Sbaate: Malawi rat. Mtoe waits + « elmmatoelers a aes Auuport, Morton, F.Z.S., F.L.S. Brief History of the Introduction of Salmon (Sa/mo salar) and other Salmonide@ to the Waters of Tasmania.......... 14 iv Additional Notes on the Introduction of Salmonide into Tasmania Anpverson, Dr. Joun, F.Z.S. Extract from a Letter concerning the Dolphin of the Ira- wady ... Extract from a Second Letter concerning the Dolphin of PHeCAWHOW: «Wu sce) es mcer ce Barrp, Wiiu1am, M.D., F.R.S. Description of a New Genus and Species of Shells from Whydah, on the West Coast of Africa, with some Remarks on the Genus) roto of Defrance .. .../. cele sere-is ine Barsoza vu Bocacs, Prof. J. V., F.M.Z.S. Note sur une nouvelle espéce de Pélican ..........--.- Note sur le jeune de l’année du Pelecanus sharpet ...... Bartiett, A. D., Superintendent of the Society’s Gardens. Remarks on the Habits of the Panda (/urus fulgens) in CUA ce stan cae Be a cue aioe”: div cmiemia id's 45a Seas Brazier, Joun, C.M.ZS. Descriptions of Three New Species of Marine Shells from the Australian Coast...... Notes on Gracula kreffti .... Descriptions of Ten New Species of Land-shells collected by Mr. W. F. Petterd, of Hobart Town, Tasmania........ Notes on two Australian Land-shells ................ Butuer, Artuur G., F.LS., F.Z.S. List of Diurnal Lepidoptera collected by Mr. ese in Northern India ...... shiewce Note on the Abnormities in the Neuration of the Hind Wings in Acrea andromacha Page 790 769 Vv Page CamsBrinGe, The Rey. O. P., C.M.Z.S. Monograph of the Genus Idiops, including Descriptions of several Species new to Science. (Plate VIII.) .......... 101 Supplementary Notice on the Genus Idiops. (Plate VIII.) 152 On some New Genera and Species of draneidea. (Plate DV caustics = tits st penne A eRe ai thy Freche, RAMEE 728 Notes on a Collection of Arachnida made by J. K. Lord, Esq., in the Peninsula of Sinai, and on the African borders of fhe Red Sea.” (PlateD,.) »3; ban -atiines eee lk 818 Connon, T. 8, M.D., F.B.8., F.1.8. Description of a New Generic Type of Entozoon from the Aard Wolf (Proteles) ; with Remarks on its Affinities, espe- cially in reference to the question of Parthenogenesis...... 9 Exhibition of an Entozoon from the Aard Wolf (Acantho- chetlonewd Aracunculordes) a i cia nile Omi ees aes Bugle poe Covucu, Jonatuan, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S. Description of a New British Mollusk (Aplysia melanopus) 173 Cox, James, M.D., C.M.Z.S. Descriptions of Seventeen New Species of Land-shells from the South-Sea Islands, in the Cabinet of Mr. John Brazier of SyMMey oN an esok iis cia as dak eo ease an OR Descriptions of Eight New Species of Shells from Australia and the Solomon Islands. (Plate XVI.)................ 170 Cunnincuam, Rosert O., M.D., F.L.S., C.M.Z.S. Notes on some Points in the Anatomy of Three Kingfishers (Ceryle stellata, Dacelo gigas, and Alcedo ispida). (Plate Letter from, on the Habits of the Manatee in captivity .. 798 Darwin, CHAr.es, F.R.S., F.Z.S. Note on the Habits of the Pampas Woodpecker (Colaptes CAPA) SS RPP AN D's Tt atale talmeihea steele meet MD vl Day, Francis, Surgeon H.M. Indian Army, F.Z.S., F.LS. On the Freshwater Fishes of Burmah.—Part II. ...... Notes on some Fishes from the Western Coast of India. . On the Fishes of the Andaman Islands .............. Dresser, H. E., F.Z.S., and Suarpsg, R, B. On some new or little-known points in the Economy of the Common Swallow (Hirundo rustica) Notes on Lanius excubitor and its Allies........... Enxiot, Danrex G., I'.L.S., F.Z.S. Descriptions of some new Genera and Species of Birds belonging to the Families Formicariide, Pachycephalide, and Sylvide.” (Plates KIX. & XK.) oo eee sts wee Description of new Species of Pheasants from the Province of Yarkand, Eastern Turkestan, and from the Island of For- RIDES ay tor ties see ens cet i As at hoe tie orcas cts Ernst, Dr. A., C.M.Z.S. Letter from, describing certain Zoological Specimens ob- tained in and around Caracas Finscu, Dr. Orro, C.M.Z.S. Description of a New Species of Penguin. (Plate XXV.) On a Collection of Birds from the Island of Trinidad... . Finscu, Dr. O., C.M.Z.S., and Hartuavus, Dr. G., F.M.Z.S. On Lobiospiza notabilis, a remarkable new Finch from the Navigator's Tslands. \ (Pinte XIE) oe. coat cose ek cee FLower, WiiuiAmM Henry, F.R.S., F.L.S., V.P.Z.S., Conser- vator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons and Hunterian Professor. Exhibition of a Drawing of a Cetacean taken off the Coast of Cornwall bo 817 Vii Page Additional Note on a Specimen of the Common Fin-whale (Physalus antiquorum, Gray, Balenoptera musculus, auct.) stranded in Langston Harbour, Nov. 1869 .............. 330 On the Anatomy of Hlurus fulgens, Fr. Cuvier ........ 752 Gou.p, Joun, F.R.S., F.Z.S. Exhibition of a new Pigeon (Otidiphaps nobilis)........ 4 Exhibition of, and Remarks upon, some Specimens of Watercouzels: (Cinelus ie 2521, 98.. Uet OOR P84 Remarks on a Collection of Humming-birds made by Mr. Buckley in Ecuador, and Descriptions of two new Species.. 803 Gray, Joun Epwarp, Ph.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S. Notes on the Skulls of the Genus Orca in the British Museum, and Notice of a Specimen of the Genus from the REVCMGNES Shao se ase eam eee gene ad Due a's opi 70 Notes on Tortoises in the British Museum, with Descrip- tions of some new Species, (Plates XXXII. & XXXIV.) 653 Notes on three Species of Tortoises living in the Society’s Gardens: (Pinfes 0b. SX Uke) io sies eins 2 bioieie mittee 5 0-s 706 Descriptions of two new Tortoises from India, in the Col- Ipciiomor 1. ©. serdong ad. vo pderieais sects mre claGy sian ey FOB On the Family Dermatemyda, and a Description of a living Species in the Gardens of the Society. (Plate XLII.) .... 711 Notes on a Specimen of Cyclanosteus senegalensis living in the Society’s Gardens. (Plate XLIII.) ................ 717 Notes on Bartlettia, a new Species of Freshwater Tortoises belonging to the Family Peltocephalide .............+4. 718 Notes on the Species of RAinoclemmys in the British Museum 722 Notes on the arrangement of the Genera of Delphinoid MP eR ere ep leis eae wee vey as 6a ovine ae os) aerate alee 772 Description of an Adult Skull of Lupleres goudoti. Prelate) (ied trator y= ee es De eee a. ee Notes on Hapalemur simus, a new Species lately living in the Gardens of the Society. (Plate LIT.) .............. 828 vill Page Grey, Sir Groree, K.C.B., F.Z.S8. Letter from, containing remarks on a letter of Dr. Haast . 116 Gutuiver, Grorer, F.R.S., F.Z.S. On the Size of the Red Corpuscles of the Blood of Mos- chus, Tragulus, Orycteropus, Ailurus, and some other Mam- malia, with Historical,Notices ). 2.000. 02058 oe whee 82 On the Taxonomic Characters afforded by the Muscular Sheath of the @sophagus as regards Sauropsida and other PRC or en en nn a SE he on ele eth ate cainy ee 283 On certain points in the Anatomy and Economy of the Pree reese a oe g BS. Ss a ayqqa gs Oo) See ee ee GuntTHeER, ALBERT, M.D., Ph.D., F.BS., F.Z.S. Note on the Locality of Megalixalus infrarufus ........ 150 Notes on Prototroetes, a Fish from Fresh Waters of the ANIStnMEMENe MON Uy rene 2d Gee haves eerste oo sks some 150 Second account of Species of Tailless Batrachians added to the Collection of the British Museum, (Plate XXX.) .... 401 Description of a new Indian Lizard of the Genus Calotes. (Elsie REV). ete SS PPS. See Coe On the Occurrence of Lates ealcartfer in Australia...... 824 Haast, Dr. Juxius, F.R.S. Letter on the Discovery of Cooking-pits and Kitehen- middens in Canterbury Settlement, Middle Island, New Zea- land. Communicated with Remarks, by Prof. Owen, F.R.S., NZS ip Cis Sone iiencin, Nok TRREIS oe Pa a c 53 Hamiuton, Epwarp, M.D., F.L.S., F.Z.S. Extract from a Letter received from Capt. F. Hamilton concerning the Andanen’ Monkey, ooo cccc< ss wwns,s cone 220 Harrtine, JAaMes Epmunp, F.Z.S. Exhibition of a specimen of the Dusky Redshank ...... 221 ix age P t=) Marriavs, Dr. G., F.M.Z.S., and Finscu, Dr. O., C.M.Z.S. On Lobdiospiza notabilis, a remarkable new Finch from the Navigator’s Islands. (Plate XLIX.) ................-. 817 Hawkes, Dr. J., F.Z.S. Communication from, respecting a case of hernia ventri- Sula sain City HIME ths on Sn ae Veena ae enn! be OeA Hupson, Wituiam H., C.M.Z.S. Letter on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres............ 87 Second Letter on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres .... 112 Third Letter on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres ...... 158 Fourth Letter on the Ornithology of Buenos hy 332 Fifth and Sixth Letters on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres 545 Seventh Letter on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres: ....° G71 Eighth letter on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres. sss 748 Ninth Letter on the Ornithology of Buenos Ayres ...... 798 Krerrt, Gerarp, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S., Curator and Secretary of the Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales. Description of a gigantic Amphibian allied to the Genus Lepidosiren, from the Wide-Bay District, Queensland .... 221 Notes on the Skeleton of a rare Whale, probably identi- cal with Dioplodon sechellensis..........0....00000.-.. 426 Lecce, W. Vincent, F.Z.S. Notes on a Malurine Bird from Ceylon................ 673 Litrorp, Lorp, F.Z.S. Letter from, respecting Otus capensis ................ 2 Marsuatt, C. H. T., and Marsuattu, G. F. L. Notes on the Classification of the Capitonide.......... 117 Meyer, Avotr Brernuarp, M.D. Some Remarks on the Poison-glands of the Genus Callophis 368 x Page Mivart, Sr. Georesr, F.R.S., F.Z.S., Lecturer on Compa- rative Anatomy at St. Mary’s Hospital. On the Axial Skeleton of the Urodela................. 260 On the Myology of Chameleon parsonii .............. 899 Morir, James, M.D., F.G.S., F.L.S., Late Prosector to the Society. Additional Memoranda as to the Irregularity in the Growth of Salmon:. \(Plated 4.) ecconek 3c uae ert). o)..89 ee 30 On a Larval @strus found in the Hippopotamus ...... 77 Note on a Specimen of Aquila barthelemyi recently living ais the Societys Gardens oo at a! feud tasty ngs Quin: see Oe Notes on the Anatomy of the Prongbuck, Antilocapra OIL LCAN OM rad er foteantede we her a aveial wie oleLlohelete felis tare. oye ajniin allot 334 On the Saiga Antelope, Saiga tartarica (Pall.) .......-. 451 Notice of a Memoir on the Anatomy of the Walrus .... 544 On Phoca grenlandica, Mill.: its Modes of Progression and its Anatomy. (Plate XXXII.) ..........-s00. --. 604 On a probably New Species of Tenia from the Rhinoceros 608 On a case of Variation in the Horns of a Panolian Deer.. 611 Notice of a Memoir on the Manatee...............4--. 747 Notice of the Second Part of a Memoir on the Anatomy of therSea-lion «ihe tecse carson oc ewe Re eae oie cae Newton, Aurrep, M.A., V.P.Z.S., Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology in the University of Cambridge. Exhibition of a Skin of the North-American Zonotrichia albicollas ShotaneScolands sctesunincs eek wees ke eee 52 On Cricetus nigricans as a European Species. (Plate Exhibition of Skins of Falcons from Alaska............ 384 Exhibition of a Chick of Anarhynchus frontalis .....+.. 673 xi Owen, Ricuarp, M.D., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., ee F.Z.8., Superintendent of the Natural-History Collec- tions, British Museum. Remarks on Dr. Haast’s Letter on the Discovery of Cook- ing-pits and Kitchen-middens in Canterbury Settlement, Middle Island, New: Zealand s:.)-. alee) fea 53 Notice of his Fifteenth Memoir on Dinornis .......... 128 Notice of his Sixteenth Memoir on Dinornis .......... 334 Preasr, W. Harper, C.M.Z.S. Remarks on the Genus Triphoris (Desh.), with Descriptions Piviewre pereei tai aes LL eS Ma Ss ee 773 Perrin, J. B. Notes on the Anatomy of Balenoptera rostrata........ 805 Peters, Wiuuiam, M.D., Ph.D., F.M.Z.S. Notice of a Memoir on Pectinator .................. 673 Puayrair, Lieut.-Col., F.Z.S., H.M. Consul-General in Algeria. Note on a Freshwater Fish from the Neighbourhood of LE a Bile OES RS ah Ne ah a 85 Row ey, Grorcr Dawson, M.A., F.Z.S. Exhibition of Specimens of the Siberian Lark, and of some pumer tare Tritt Wards sie ite eee vine Ge coun, a' Sines an opm’ 52 SaLvIN, Ospert, M.A., F.L.S., F.Z.S. On some Collections of Birds from Veragua.—Part II. (Plate XVII.) . DRM Ss Recess os + tals opie ee (See also Benaven and SaLvin. ) Sanpers, ALFRED, M.R.C:S., F.Z.S, Notes on the Myology of Platydactylus japonicus...... 413 Saunpers, Howarp, F.Z.S. Exhibition of Nestlings of the Booted Eagle .......... 544 xil Sciater, Poinire Lutiey, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to wo the Society. Notices of recent Additions to the Menagerie . real 1 Remarks on the Hairy Tapir (Tapirus shay? of the ColuMbinnVANUES Season usec eee cee ee es ee ce en ee esse" on On some new or little-known Birds from the Rio Parana. Relate LIL.) ~. Reese PS Eat as oe nee 57 On Additions to the Menagerie in January 1870. (PlateV.) 86 Exhibition of a ey of a ike, described Lemur (Propithecus damanus) . . Se tie geet jaar aes Notice of a Memoir on the Deer of the Old World...... 114 Remarks on the Arrangement and Distribution of the Cervide . igeiee . ld On Additions to the Shige’ in a a 1870. " (PlateX. ) 125 Further Remarks on the Locality of Amherst’s Pheasant.. 128 Exhibition of a Coloured Drawing of a remarkable Pigeon (Otidiphaps nobilis) .. 1. .0.ccceces sees were sees rete ee 157 Notice of the arrival in the Society’s Gardens of living Specimens of two newly described Species of Phasianide. Gites KEV. NVC) See ede PEA en Sone ees 162 Further Notes on the Cuckoos of the Genus Coceyzus .. 165 On Additions to the Society’s Menagerie in March 1870. 219 On Additions to the Society’s Menagerie in April 1870, and Description of Canis lateralis. (Plate XXIII.).......... 279 Notices of some new or little-known Species of South- American: Birds 124 Macrapius’ eriiGescensiciass isha viscaneitls «che exsyatere > += «leh 126 TsQNAUS WALTENT A AAI. -tensyagina heise s Ae casiale SEER 131 AY GGL eS OT LUI GE oes ro spe cles versie aieasess ilove bass aal 6 136 Bigs Ll RiansarsusWONteUTd ealeces) seis are s.Siaie\ess <<< 142 Fig. 2. ACTON USO sroyaiex alav-seiete sixtalh clvievess eiratecr’s ae Lophophorus selatert SLOG UOIERC. CORES hc aL 162 Ceri ornis BULA armtaale- «ts cleleiels: «is sieicis are, us alos ete eee New Shells from Australia and the Solomon Islands.. 170 Map of Central America ..........0cececveeceees 175 DRED US UOINATMUS wercy Neverthe ata fete nee) Pak asl yaleleelao¥e- aia ed Clytorhynchus pachycephaloides ............+-4. Clyfoctantes: alimitrag tere Gare ds vse ess dein 4 0008 a ING Wa SHE Mai eres rclekeren ts leet ai ciss ofa: = aietre a oie eitilroe’ sya Sh ee 249 CONSE THIDERIES) | (atin tel Wards es vie wale, Wee! Pe Wo cee Oe 279 Myolepy of Kinenishersisiaies |. '.0.c0). evs cle sot eceinn se 280 Dasyrhamphus hercwlisi.. 0.2.22 600 ese cee o eae 322 CPLCEIUSERIG RICANS! aia cfs e'o\ twice «<0! o'« xoh2 ws. 61/o c\ala wie 331 ANEW eS EU Sate. Netra cpaieetey anete tate a cats, cori. oFe Myjeleieys nee ae 374 (CEILS CliiRai ln dow oie Boe lee CARE Er ens Uce ccc: © 381 MEU SHOE OTIS! CLOSSLCU2'c\ xtvta tela flare «\fa)'0i« \vsolele/s|eieletais)/ehors 384 Figs. 1, 2. Nannophryne variegata ...........55. | 401 We ee ILO TR ORQUM COs sis) «01> « 've,0/she) fareteteielalacela sss j Trimeresurus Mucrosquamatus ....eceecreceeceeeas 409 604 Phoca grenlandica Site sw es) ea) eS ads, wleie wie) aVenmie ©.@ 8 c/a we 6 XV1 Plate Page XXXIII. Peltastes platynotus ......0cecsevves Sean bios aC ; ROX CRELOUINAERDUNST ides salads vs wie ¥ os Wess s 4/8 oles = PRONSNV nim IVI CLCUS) LEONUITUS) nin aleusts sveVels ia eal onctaysia acs o x(aNetafelopavers 664 RORONGV Me CUO O OUT TRCISLET:D tay aie o'n):cle\ ni /iota sc) sue /e.(c «e's elem spnie XXXVII. Metopiana peposacd .......ccccsvccccessvsencs 666 MNOVIT. —Dafilacspimicauda, sea. ees ace leaks wee one so oe OXON | BU CenasSUDCYTINMTACUS wvace) a.0i0 iaje ofere ans dian wis) oieiaepeieie 668 Kee pe MEST UO: CHILCUSIS cls atlas forse oie sis as siSaneis a's o7s ity XLI. —— elephantopus 1... 0. cc nccsvcce ccescccccecs 106 MMM Mi Chlonemysiaononmts, ,s< ccahescsieysiahs/andieliiess, olovel seers oes 711 XLII. Cyclasnosteus senegalensis ........ 6. secre reve vevas 717 XLIV. New Genera and Species of Araneidea.............. 728 Fig. A. Calotes jerdont, Sve vee ye cee cee nae ae 3 Fig. B. MARE s.0 ahi ts 4. eV IA 6 az ehre 18 , Fig. 1. Chlorospingus goeringt ... +... eeeeeeeeee os ee 2. Diglossa gloriosa...... MPR. Pb 779 XLVII. Urochroma dilectissima ...... TR CaSO OO HOR Rt «20. XDAVALITS » News bixotie shellssratacte cee cess re ere corelele st ols sveveietae 788 XMLIX. Lobiospizanotabilis. wivccces esse vtec ceee eves cede 817 L. New Spiders from Sinai and Massowa ..........+++5 818 LI. Eupleres goudoti..........+- ata mrotetnate sieinca cle /stenstts 824 LIL. Hapalemur simus.....0cccccccececsssssccvsses Broce) Fig. 1. Tyranniscus leucogonys......+.++0e2eeeee LUI. JB 2 CHIEF CLCCDS I. alsteieieateretere «aes Tee ale ole 840 Fig. 3. improbus ....+-- iba pupdochagchun %® The numbering of these two figures has been accidentally reversed in the letterpress, p. 784. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. January 13, 1870. John Gould, Esq., F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. The Secretary called the attention of the Meeting to certain addi- tions to the Society’s Menagerie during the months of November and December last. These were :— 1. Six Water-tortoises (Hmys), presented by the Rev. Basil Wil- berforce, November 27th. Upon being taken to the British Museum for identification, four of these animals proved to belong to a new species, which had been described by Dr. Gray at the Society’s Meeting in December under the name Emys flavipes* ; and the two others to a species described by Dr. Gray at the Society’s Meeting on the 11th of November as Mauremys laniariat. It was unfortu- nate that Mr. Wilberforce was unable to state the localities of these specimens, which had been purchased from various dealers during the last ten years, some of them having been in his possession for the whole of that period. 2. A specimen of a rare American Monkey, the Ouakari (Bra- chyurus ouacari, Spix), obtained from the forests of the Rio Negro by Lewis Joel, Esq., C.M.Z.S., H.B.M. Vice-Consul at Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, and deposited in the Society’s Gardens by Mrs. Joel, December 16th. One specimen of this Monkey had been pre- viously living in the Society’s Gardens, in 1847, an original drawing * P. Z. 8. 1869, p- 643. Tt P. Z. 8. 1869, p. 499. Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1870, No. I. 2 LETTER FROM DR. A. ERNST. (Jan. 13, of which by Mr. Richter was now in the Society’s Library*. Mr. Sclater remarked that he had little doubt that the Szmza melano- cephala of Humboldt (Rech. Zool. i. p. 316, t. xxix.) was really intended for the same animal, as it was obtained in the same locality (that is, from the Upper Rio Negro), and it was hardly likely that two so nearly allied species could coexist in the same district, the species of this group being remarkable for their distribution in defi- nitely limited geographic areas. The following extract was read from a letter addressed to Mr. Sclater by Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. :— “TI notice that in the last part of the Zoological Society’s ‘ Pro- ceedings,’ p. 276, you say that the Otus capensis sent to me by Major Irby last year was captured on the Rock of Gibraltar. This is a mistake; it was the Bubo maximus (which arrived at the Gardens at the same time with Oéus capensis) which was caught in one of the galleries in the Rock. The Otus capensis was one of several which Major Irby shot near Casa Vieja, about fifty miles west of Gibraltar, beyond Tarifa. I have just received from Major Irby a very fine skin of the same species from Tangier. From what I can make out, this bird migrates northwards irregularly in autumn. Major Irby found five or six in a marsh in October 1868, and has failed to find them, or hear of them, in that locality, or elsewhere in Spain, in spring or summer. It is not a common bird near Tangier.” The Secretary read the following extracts from a letter addressed to him by Dr. A. Ernst, C.M.Z.S., dated Caracas, August 20th, 1869 :— “A few days ago one of my collectors brought me a fine male specimen of the Echimys cristatus, Desm. It was shot in a spot called the Palmar, which is about 4500 feet above the level of the Caribbean Sea. The animal appears to be very rare in the imme- diate neighbourhood of Caracas ; but I was told it was pretty abun- dant in the hotter regions of the valley of the Tuy river. Its vulgar name is ‘Catiragitia.” The colour agreed pretty well with the only description I was able to find in my books (Boitard, Le Jardin des Plantes, Mammiféres, p. 345). I took the following measurements : —From tip of nose to root of tail 28 centim.; tail 22 centim.; dis- tance between the ears 4 centim.; distance between the eyes 23 centim. ; tip of nose to the line between the ears 5 centim. ; cireum- ference of body in its thickest part 16 centim. The animal was shot from a tree; its habits are therefore arboreal, as generally in this enus. “‘Of Bats I obtained the Vespertilio lucifugus, Leconte. In the higher part of the river Catuche, about 6000 feet above the sea, a * Cf. Dr. Gray’s remarks, P. Z. 8. 1849, p. 9, where there is a woodeut taken from this drawing. + Cf. Wallace, P. Z. 8. 1852, p. 108. eee ee 1870.] MR. SWINHOE ON THE SKIN OF A MANTCHURIAN TIGER. 3 dozen of specimens were captured in a small grotto. Most of them were young animals; there was only one full-grown male amongst them. All the specimens were thickly covered by a species of Myc- teribia ; but I was unable to classify it for want of literary apparatus. My identification of the Vespertilio mentioned rests on the memoir on American Bats published by Allen in vol. vii. of the Smithsonian Mise. Collect. 55. «‘ The last steamer from Ciudad Bolivar brought, amongst other things, a few specimens of the Fulgora laternaria, L. My corre- spondent repeats in his letter the fables the Indians relate with re- spect to this innocent insect; but though he mentions the most marvellous things, he does not speak of any emanations of light. I think such negative evidence is worthy to be taken notice of. “And last, but not least, I have to add a few lines with respect to a species of Sywilla which was captured by a fisherman at La Guayra, the sea-port of this town. It is certainly a species closely allied to Sq. mantis; but I think it different. There are no traces of the six dorsal lines ; the segments are perfectly smooth, whitish, with the exception of the anterior margin, which is of a greyish-blue colour. The posterior margin of the fifth gill-bearing articulation is mi- nutely toothed; the following shows teeth on both edges; and this last segment has in the middle an oval protuberance of a bluish-grey colour, 14 inch long, and nearly 4 inch broad. The posterior edge of the same segment has on each side three strong inwardly bent teeth, and, between these, two groups of united small teeth. The claws are armed with eight large teeth, excepting the large curved point of the claw. The carapace of the thorax has a deep and broad notch on the posterior edge, and four rather faintly impressed lon- gitudinal lines. The underside of the animal is white; there are distinct bluish markings at the root of the spines in the claws. Length 22 centim. from the point of insertion of the eyes to the pos- terior edge of the last segment. «I hope these indications will be sufficient for an identification of the animal with some described species. In case it should not be so, I will try to send you our specimen over to have it duly examined and described.” Mr. Swinhoe exhibited the skin of a Mantchurian Tiger (Felis tigris?), measuring 7 feet 8 inches from the nose to the root of the tail, and placed alongside of it the skin of a specimen from India. He pointed out that, with the exception of the face, which had as short hair as that of the Bengal Tiger, the whole of the body of the Mantchurian beast was covered with long softish hairs, and that there was a shaggy ruff about its neck. The specimen exhibited was of a pale colour, with the stripes narrow and indistinct, especially about the shoulders and the hips. Its tail had four narrow longitudinal streaks on the upper surface for the first foot of its length, the next foot was banded irregularly, and the terminal foot regularly, with black and flavescent, ending with a broad black tip. This was the northern race of Tiger, which was tracked by the hunters among 4 REV. H. B. TRISTRAM ON AQUILA N&vioipes. [Jan. 13, the snows of Mantchuria and Corea. It did not wander south of Peking, but had occurred near Lake Baikal in Siberia, and, it was said, even in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg. Mr. Swinhoe regretted that he had not yet succeeded in getting its skull. He added that on a former occasion, some years ago, he had exhibited to the Society a skin of the true Bengal Tiger, which was procured at Amoy. This southern race was found from Canton to Shanghai. Mr. Swinhoe also showed the skin of a Leopard from the province of Kwangtung, very richly coloured and marked, but otherwise agree- ing with the Leopard of India; and at the same time laid before the Meeting the skins of an adult and young of the northern Leopard, which Dr. Gray some time since (P. Z. S. 1862, p. 262, Pl. xxxmt.) had described as new ( Leopardus japonensis), from a skin said to have come from Japan. Mr. Swinhoe remarked that this Leopard dif- fered from the southern race also in its long shaggy hair, in the greater amount of white about it, in its bushy tail, its pale colour, and in the confused massing together of the black spots and circles. The young specimen had all the characters of the adult, except that the markings were indistinct and more in the form of spots. Mr. Swinhoe stated that the skin before them was procured at Peking, and that the animal was found wild on the western hills near Peking, and in the country to the north (Mantchuria), extend- ing probably to Corea and the island of Saghalien, and perhaps to Northern Japan. It seemed to him that if the northern Leopard was to be recognized as a distinct race worthy of a specific name, so also should the Tiger be. He would do his best to procure the skull of this race, as also that of the northern Leopard, and expected that the osteological characters would confirm the differences shown by the skins. Mr. Swinhoe also produced the stuffed skin of a Leopardus bra- chyurus from Formosa, in which the tail was somewhat long, proving that this race is more akin to Z. macrocelis than had been anticipated. Mr. Gould exhibited, and made remarks upon, a specimen of the very remarkable new Pigeon which he had recently described under the name Ot¢idiphaps nobilis*, supposed to be from New Guinea. The Rev. H. B. Tristram exhibited two skins of Aquila nevioides from India, and made the following remarks on them :— “‘T have the pleasure to submit for exhibition two specimens of Aquila nevioides, recently sent to me from Etawah, N. W. Provinces of India, by my friend Mr. W. G. Brooks, C.E. Mr. Brooks had noticed a peculiarly ruddy Eagle in his neighbourhood for some months before he obtained his first specimen; and the bird not being on any Indian list, or recorded from the East, imagined he had discovered a new species. I heard from him last week that he has just obtained a third specimen near Etawah. * Ann. Nat. Hist. ser, 4, vol. y. p. 62 (1870). GB Sowerby lith M & N Hanhart imp oz) 2s NEW LAND & MARINE SHELL 1870.] MR. H. ADAMS ON NEW SHELLS. 5 ** Mr. Gurney observes that the specimens now exhibited ‘ appear to be male and female of the true A. nevioides, identical with those found in Africa. I have never seen this larger race from India pre- viously, or, at least, have never recognized it if I have seen it. “© «The occurrence of these two birds in India raises a curious question of nomenclature. 4. nevioides is undoubtedly far more “ fulvescens”’ in its average plumage than the allied smaller Indian race, which you and I have been in the habit of identifying with Aquila fulvescens of Gray. « « But as it now seems that the true A. nevioides occurs in India, is it not most probable that A. fulvescens, Gray, is in reality a synonym of A. nevioides, and that the smaller allied but less fulvescent bird, which is peculiar to India, should be termed Aquila vindhiana of Franklin, without the synonym of 4. fulvescens?’ *T also exhibit a singular specimen, received from Mr. Brooks at the same time, which Mr. Gurney considers to be a female of 4. vindhiana of an unusually dark colour, attributable to the plumage being newly acquired atter a recent moult. This bird has been considered by Mr. A. Hume to be 4. nevia, and by others A. hastata.” The following papers were read :— 1. Descriptions of a New Genus, and of Eighteen New Species of Mollusks. By Henry Apams, F.L.S. (Plate I.) Genus Nesta, H. Ad. Testa oblongo-ovali, superne convewa, apice terminali, subincurvo, extus decussata, sulco dorsali in fissuram desinente; apertura margine crenulato. Nesta canpipa, H. Ad. (Plate Pidies lp :l a) N. testa oblongo-ovali, tenui, lirulis elevatis tenuissimis concentricis et radiantibus concinne decussata, nivea; sulco dorsali lateribus distinctis, transverse striato, fissura antica valida ; apertura mar- gine postico paulum incrassato, omnino delicate crenulata. Long. 53, lat. 3, alt. 12 mill. Hab. Rea Sea (Coll. M‘Andrew). This pretty and delicate little form appears to be allied to Zeidora, A. Ad.; but the peculiar internal septum, which is a marked cha- racteristic of that genus, is absent in Nesta. It may be considered a communicating link between Zetdora and Emarginula. The genus Zeidora was obtained by my brother in Japan, where also he met with another singular shell, Morchia obvoluta, of which two specimens have been dredged by Mr. M‘Andrew in the Red Sea. 6 MR. H. ADAMS ON NEW SHELLS. [Jan. 13, Corsuta suucutosa, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 2.) C. testa solida, acuminato-ovata, albida, subequivalvi, sulcis con- centricis subdistantibus ornata ; umbonibus medianis, prominenti- bus, proximatis ; latere antico ovali, latere postico acuminato ; margine dorsali antice subincurvo, postice arcuato, margine ven- trali vix sinuato ; declivitate umbonali valde angulata. Long. 9, alt. 6, lat. 6 mill. Hab. Red Sea (Coll. Mf‘ Andrew). TeLuina (TELLINELLA) vircuLata, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 3.) T. testa solidiuscula, subovali, subequilaterali, concentrice conferte lirata, liris postice rugose lamellosis, albida, radiis rubro-fuscis interruptis picta; latere antico ovali, latere postico ad extremi- tatem subtruncato ; plica valida; margine dorsali antice leviter arcuato, postice vir recto ; margine ventrali convexo, postice sub- sinuato ; intus albida, ad marginem obscure radiata. Long. 25, alt. 20 mill. Hab. Red Sea (Coll. M‘ Andrew). TeLuipora pusiuua, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 4.) T. testa parva, subtriangulari, solida, concentrice lamellosa, et inter lamellas tenuissime radiatim striata; lamellis subirregularibus, subremotis, ad latus posticum serratis, pallide flava; umbonibus submedianis, acutis, compressis ; margine dorsali antice subincur- vato, postice subarcuato ; margine ventrali convexo, postice sinuato et angulato; flecura conspicua; valva utraque convexa. Long. 10, alt. 10, lat. 4 mill. Hab. Red Sea (Coll. M‘Andrew). The two other known species of this genus, viz. 7’. burneti and T. erystallina, are from Mazatlan and West Columbia. In the former, one valve is convex and the other slightly concave, while in 7’. ery- stallina and T. pusilla both valves are convex. Lucrnopsis (Lasonxarria) ELEGANS, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 5.) L. testa parvula, tenui, ovato-quadrata, alba, lineis incrementi con- spicuis, remotis, et striis tenuissimis confertis divaricantibus, in- terstitiis indentatis insculpta ; umbonibus medianis, approximatis, prominentibus ; lunula elongato-ovali, linea angusta circumscripta; extremitate antica ovali, extremitate postica latiore, via conveza, cum margine dorsali angulum subarcuatum formante ; margine ventrali subrecto. Long. 11, alt. 10, lat. 5 mill. Hab. Red Sea (Coll. M‘Andrew). SEMELE MACANDRES, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 6.) S. testa oblongo-ovali, inequilaterali, solidula, albida, lumellis erectis tenuibus concentricis ornata, interstitiis minutissime ra- diatim striatis; umbonibus prominentibus, postmedianis, contiguis ; margine dorsali postice subrecto, antice incurvato, margine ven- 1870. ] MR. H. ADAMS ON NEW SHELLS. 7 trali arcuato ; extremitate posteriore subovali, cum margine dor- sali angulum formante, extremitate anteriore rotundata ; valvis ad marginem ventralem compressis, postice fleruosis et angulo dorsali curvato instructis. Long. 23, alt. 18, lat. 9 mill. Hab. Red Sea (Coll. M‘ Andrew). Cuione PuLCHELLA, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 7.) C. testa transversim ovali, solidula, convexa, equilaterali, lamelilis concentricis erectis ornata, ad extremitatem posticam validis et granulosis, inter lamellas radiatim striatis, carnea, rubro marmo- rata; umbonibus medianis ; lunula angusta, bene impressa ; intus rubra. Long. 10, alt. 53, lat. 33 mill. Hab. Red Sea ( Coll. M‘ Andrew). Lorires pecussata, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 8.) L. testa subglebosa, solidula, striis tenuibus, elevatis, confertis, con- centricis et radiantibus decussata, alba; umbonibus submedianis, elevatis, acutis, approximatis, antrorsum versis ; margine interno concinne crenulato. Long. 9, alt. 11, lat. 9 mill. Hab. Red Sea (Coll. M‘dAndrew). Perna Fuuterpa, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 9.) P. testa transversa, elongato-ovata, tumida, castanea, nitida, area mediana pallidiore ; umbonibus subterminalibus, contiguis, viola- ceis; margine dorsali in medio obtuse angulato, margine ventrali antice convero, postice parum incurvaio; superficie valvarum sulco levi radiatim bipartita. Long. 28, alt. 15, lat. 11 mill. Hab. Red Sea (Coll. M‘Andrew). Limopsis concinna, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 10.) L. testa solidula, subovali, subequilaterali, concentrice irregulariter lirata, radiatim confertissime tenuissime siriata, alba; umbonibus submedianis, prominentibus, incurvatis ; latere antico rotundato, latere postico longiore, ad extremitatem subangulato ; denticulis cardinalibus utringue ad 5; margine intus crenato-sulcato. Long. 4, alt. 4, lat. 22 mill. Hab. Canary Islands (Coll. M‘Andrew). Lim#a pectinaTa, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 11.) L. testa solidula, triangulari-ovata, subequilaterali, subauriculata, alba, costis radiantibus ad 19, rotundatis, elevatis, imbricatis or- nata, interstitiis concentrice laminatis ; margine crenato ; umbo- nibus prominulis ; area ligamenti vir eacavata ; margine cardinali vie obliquo, recto, denticulis ad 11 utringue instructo. Long. 24, alt. 3, lat. 2 mill. Hab. Red Sea (Coll, M‘Andrew). MR. H. ADAMS ON NEW SHELLS. (Jan. 13, Mewanorpes swinHor!, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 12.) M. testa elongato-turrita, tenuiuscula, spiraliter costata, costis ad basim evanidis, sursum longitudinaliter plicata, epidermide nigro- fusca induta, decollata; anfr. ad 10 superstitibus, subplanatis, infra suturam excavatis ; apertura acuminato-ovali, antice pro- ducta, callo columellari mediocri, intus cerulescente. Diam. 14, alt. 43 mill. Hab. Hainan (Mr. Swinhoe). Birnynta rosusta, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 13.) B. testa late profundeque rimata, ovato-conica, solidula, oblique irregulariter striata et sublente transversim levissime striatula, olivacea, truncata ; anfr. superstitibus ad 4, convexiusculis ; aper- tura subovali, postice angulata, antice subcanaliculata ; perist. continuo, recto, margine dextro intus subcalloso, columellari in- crassato. Diam. 8, alt. 13 mill. Hab. Hainan (Mr. Swinhoe). Rumrina (Susuuina) TerEs, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 14.) R. testa turrita, tenuiuscula, oblique minutim striata, pallide fulva ; spira elongata, apice obtuso, sutura subcanaliculata; anfr. 9, convexiusculis, ultimo basi attenuato, 4 longitudinis paulo supe- rante ; columella arcuata, basin aperture non attingente, subtrun- cata; apertura subovali; perist. simplici, acuto, margine deatro sinuato. Long. 25, diam. 6 mill. Ap. 7 mill. longa, 33 lata. Hab. Hainan (Mr. Swinhoe). Hewrx (CAMa@NA) HAINANENSIS, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 15.) H. testa imperforata, globoso-turbinata, solidula, irregulariter ru- gosa et cicatricosa, flava, fasciis variis rufo-castaneis ornata ; spira turbinata, apice obtuso ; anfr. 6, convexiusculis, ultimo non descendente ; apertura lunato-ovali ; columella subverticali, brevi, dilatata; perist. expanso, reflexiusculo, marginibus callo tenui junctis. Diam. maj. 40, min. 37, alt. 40 mill. 3 Hab. Hainan (Mr. Swinhoe). PrEROCYCLOS HAINANENSIS, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 16.) P. testa depressa, late umbilicata, tenuiuscula, leviter striata, fulvo- lutea, epidermide cornea, laminis distantibus dispositis induta ; spira paulum elevata, apice prominulo ; anfr. 5, rotundatis, ultimo non descendente ; apertura obliqua, circulari; perist. duplicato, interno superne breviter inciso, externo expanso, supra sinum latiusculo, subcucullato. Op. arctispirum, extus concaviusculum, marginibus anfractuum laciniatis. Diam. maj. 15, min. 12, alt. 10 mill. Hab. Hainan (Mr. Swinhoe). 1870. ] DR. T. S. COBBOLD ON A NEW ENTOZOON. 9 Buuimuxus pAMarRENsIs, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 17.) B. testa vir rimata, oblonga, solida, longitudinaliter plicoso-striata, plicis obtusis, subarcuatis, albida, interdum strigis corneo-fuscis ornata ; spira superne attenuata, apice obtuso, corneo ; anfr. 103, convexiusculis, ultimo 2 longitudinis equante ; apertura subovali, basi angulata; perist. recto, calloso, marginibus callo junctis, columellari dilatato, appresso. Long. 24, lat. 9 mill. Hab. Damara Land (Coll. H. Ad.). This species is allied to B. tauricus, Lang., but differs from it in being less rimate, and in the spire being attenuated at the upper part. Butimutus pyem£us, H. Ad. (Plate I. fig. 18.) B. testa rimato-perforata, ovata, solida, alba, striis longitudinalibus et spiralibus minutissimis obsolete decussata ; spira brevi, convexo- conica, apice obtuso, sutura impressa; anfr. 6, convexis, ultimo 4 longitudinis @quante; columella subverticali; apertura ovali ; perist. recto, crasso, margine columellari arcuato, dilatato, reflexo, perforationem subtegente. Long. 13, diam. 8 mill. Hab. Damara Land (Coll. H. Ad.). DESCRIPTION OF PLATE I. Figs. 1, la. Nesta candida, p. 5. . Corbula suleulosa, p. 6. . Tellina (Tellinella) virgulata, 6 1 2 3 p- 6. 4. Teilidora pusilla, p. 6. 5. Lucinopsis (Lajonkairia) ele- gans, p. 6. 6. Semele macandree, p. 6. 7. Chione pulchelia, p. 7. 8. Loripes decussata, p. 7. 9. Perna fulgida, p. 7. . Limopsis concinna, p. 7. . Limea pectinata, p. 7. . Melanoides swinhoet, p. 8. . Bithynia robusta, p. 8. . Rumina (Subulina) teres, p. 8. . Helix (Camena) hainanensis, p. 8. . Pterocyclos hainanensis, p. 8. . Bulimulus damarensis, p. 9. pygmaeus, p. 9. 2. Description of a new Generic Type of Entozoon from the Aard Wolf (Proteles) ; with Remarks on its Affinities, especially im reference to the question of Parthenogensis. By T. S. Cosson, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. On the 4th of November last I received from Professor Flower, F.R.S., a small bottle containing some Nematode worms, accom- panied by a letter stating that the parasites had been “ found loose in the peritoneal cavity of Proteles cristatus.’”’ The mere circum- stance that the carnivorous ‘“ host’ had never before been properly anatomized, naturally led Mr. Flower to suppose that the worms would prove new to science; and this inference could hardly fail to be strengthened by the rather uncommon fact of the occurrence of hn vr 10 DR.T. S. COBBOLD ON A NEW ENTOZOON. (Jan. 13, round worms in large numbers in the general serous cavity of the abdomen. Moreover there had to be taken into consideration the peculiarities of the digitigrade mammal thus infested, its compara- tive rarity, and also its limited area of geographical distribution, these several influences being unquestionably concerned in the ‘‘ fixa- tion,” so to speak, of the specific form likely to be encountered. It is not surprising therefore that our anticipations in the above rela- tion should have been more or less completely verified; and ac- cordingly it turns out that we here encounter a new genus of inter- nal parasites offering peculiarities of structure, and apparently also of habit, which on the whole suggest a slight approximation to the ordinary filarine genera, on the one hand, but with a closer con- nexion with the remarkable genus Dracunculus on the other. When all the facts bearing upon the genetic relations of the Guinea-worm come to be fully known, it may then turn out that my determina- tions, in respect of the affinities of the new worm, are somewhat wide of the mark; but, in the meantime, the following data will show the grounds on which I have provisionally asserted this alliance. All the specimens received by me, thirty-four in number, were females ; therefore, in the absence of any knowledge of the corre- sponding male parasites, the following characters must be regarded as applicable only to one of the sexes :— Order NEMATODA, Rud. Suborder Nem. Proctrvucaa, Dies. Family Firarrpea, Dies. Subfamily CaErLonemrp14, Dies. ACANTHOCHEILONEMA, g. n. Head furnished with three spinous lips; body filiform ; female endoparasitic in mammals. A. DRACUNCULOIDES, sp. n. Body smooth, finely attenuated in front, uniformly thick below ; head sharply pointed when the lips are closed, obtuse when exserted ; neck spirally twisted in four or five circles ; tail abruptly truncate, with a solitary, central, very slightly projecting lobe; no reproduc- tive orifice visible. Length 13" to 23"; general breadth 1,” to J”. This combined generic and specific description, though sufficient for future identifications, may, I think, be profitably supplemented by other particulars relating to size, external form, and general organization, amongst. which I have remarked the following :—The head immediately beneath the insertion of the lips measures so little as the ;,/,,” in diameter, whilst the neck proper gives only twice the same amount of thickness. The tail is fully 3,” in breadth, its feebly pronounced central lobe being no more than the 54," wide at the base. The mature eggs, or those containing more or less per- 1870. ] DR. T. S. COBBOLD ON A NEW ENTOZOON. 11 fected embryos, present an average length of -1," by <1,” in width; but the fully developed embryos, when set free and unrolled, give an average measurement of ;1." from head to tail. The larvee, how- ever, are remarkably thin, the longest of them not exceeding the ston" in thickness ; yet, notwithstanding their smallness, they have already attained the general form of their parents, the finely pointed anterior extremity of the body scarcely exceeding the To009. 1 diameter. In this connexion, I must also not omit to mention that on re- moving the batch of parent worms from the phial in which they were sent, I observed several of them to be adhering to one another, the various points of union being marked by the presence of minute particles of débris. To the naked eye these particles presented a pale yellow colour, their irregular outline and general aspect sug- gesting that they were only patches of mucus, connective tissue, or something of that sort derived from the “host” during dissec- tion. However, to my astonishment, on microscopically examining one of these little masses, measuring about the 1,” in length, I found it to consist of thousands of embryos agglutinated together. So consolidated had they become by the action of the spirit in which they were preserved, that I had the greatest difficulty in isolating any one of them; and since, also, they were, individually, much shrivelled and twisted, their measurements could not be very accurately taken. Making all due allowance for contractions and alterations of shape, I did not find that their separate total lengths perceptibly exceeded that of the embryos obtained from the interior of the parent worms. In the mass they were coiled upon themselves and each other in inextricable confusion. I purposely dwell upon these apparently trivial matters because it seems to me of the highest importance to ascertain whether the escaped embryos were, or were not, caught in the act of migrating. They may have accumulated only as the result of accidental evacuation from specimens of the parent worms injured during the dissection of the “host ;” in this case, however, though the egg-envelopes would naturally have disap- peared, I should probably have noticed some of the freed embryos ina less perfectly developed condition than that in which all of them actu- ally appeared to be. Those who are acquainted with the migratory habits of the Nematode Entozoa will readily conclude that these embryos were, at the time of the “host’s” death, accomplishing what, in other cases, has been appropriately termed a “first active wandering” on their own account; and probably a passive trans- ference to some unknown intermediary bearer would, had they lived, have been essential to the further development of these particular larvee. Be that as it may, in the matter of ascertaining their mode of actual escape (supposing them to have obtained their freedom naturally) there yet remains the rather awkward circumstance that I have not yet succeeded in procuring evidence of the existence of any reproductive outlet in the body of the parent worm. In establishing a new genus for the reception of this interesting form of Entozoon, some explanation is certainly necessary. At once, therefore, I may remark that 1 should have preferred to designate 12 DR.T. 8. COBBOLD ON A NEW ENTOZOON. _ [Jan. 13, the genus as Tricheilonema; and, indeed, I had already so written it, when I afterward found that the late C. M. Diesing had already employed the same generic title for a parasite of a somewhat differ- ent type. In his final revision of the Nematoda, communicated to the Vienna Academy in 1860, he places this Nematode (de- scribed in his ‘Systema Helminthum’ as a species of Filaria) as the type of his new genus Tricheilonema; whilst, unfortunately, in the Introduction or Conspectus of the same revision, this genus, Tricheilonema, appears under the synonym of Schizocheilonema. This complication of terms is vexatious—the more so since his term Tricheilonema would have been much more suitable for the designa- tion of our new parasite than for the particular form of Filaria there described as having been obtained from the cesophagus of an Austrian Snake. On the other hand, since Diesing’s ready method makes no pretentions towards a natural classification of the Entozoa, and since, also, in the present state of our knowledge, it is much more convenient to utilize his system of arrangement than those of other systematists, there is the less reason to regret the necessary introduction of a new generic term. If Schneider’s system be more natural, it is, at all events, much less complete. Without further apology, therefore, on this score, I may also remark upon the great difficulties surrounding a natural classification of the parasitic Nema- todes. The variety of characters they display, especially at different stages of their growth, the remarkable disparity of size occasionally shown by the sexes, to say nothing of the still more astonishing fact that the adult female Entozoon may itself occur in two totally distinct forms—all these peculiarities, not to mention many others (associated with or depending upon their migratory habits), add to the difficulties of taxonomy. These instances of dimorphism, it is true, are now no longer believed to be confined to the Nematode Entozoa, certain Entomostraca, Aphides, and Bees; nevertheless the recent additions on this head are mainly a confirmation of the remarkable discoveries of Leuckart and Mecznikow in respect of the life-phases and development of Ascaris nigrovenosa. In this connexion one may particularize the observations of Prof. Leuckart respecting sexual dimorphism as it occurs in Coccus and in Chermes, of Prof. Hackel, who finds the naked-eyed Geryoniade@ capable of producing (from the walls of the stomach) medusoids totally unlike their parents, and of Prof. Claus in respect of the Nematode Leptodera appendiculata. It was reserved, however, for Prof. Claparéde to discover proofs of the existence of similar phenomena amongst the Annelids properly so called. By arecently published brochure (which the author has kindly sent me), I gather that the occurrence of two distinct sexual forms presented by Nereis dumerilit does something more than confirm the statements of the above-named authorities, since the dimorphic phases of this singular Annelid have something about them altogether peculiar, if not unique*. The sexually mature Nereis, we are told, loses for a time its sexuality, increases in size * Recherches sur des Annélides (p. 38). Tiré des Arch. des Sci. de la Bibl. Dniy. Oct. 1869, 1870. } DR.T. S. COBBOLD ON A NEW ENTOZOON. 13 and segmentation, then becomes sexual again, and ultimately has the power of transforming itself into a Heteronereis. This would signify little, perhaps, if the two phases were only slightly different in character ; but it must be borne in mind that they represent type forms of genera hitherto regarded as utterly disconnected and entirely distinct. If Prof. Claparéde’s observations and conclusions should be verified and extended by further researches, we shall have fallen upon another page of fruitful discovery bearing upon the so- called law of “alternate generation.’ In touching upon these genetic phenomena, my object is to bring about a probable explanation in connexion with the development of the parasitic species now before us. From the first, my suspicions were roused by peculiarities of structure observable in Acanthocheilonema which forcibly reminded me of Dracunculus. Knowing as we do, to some extent, the sexual characteristics of this aberrant parasite, and keeping in view, at the same time, Prof. Schneider’s interpretation of cognate facts displayed by the singular genus Spherularia, it occurred to me that the characters exhibited by Acanthocheilonema afforded indications of a new and important link in the complex chain of Nematode affinities. Thus all the specimens I have examined are females; the oral, anal, and reproductive apertures are either entirely obliterated, or, from their closure and excessive minuteness, have escaped observation ; whilst the whole parasite may be summarily described as an elongated sac, crammed from end to end with embryos in all stages of development. It should not be forgotten that, for a long time, the mouth and even the intestinal tract of Dracunculus escaped detection, and at the present hour (notwithstanding Bastian’s remarkable discoveries in this relation) the existence of an anal outlet has not been actually demonstrated. The alimentary canal of dAcanthocheilonema is visible throughout the greater part of its course, but not in the im- mediate vicinity of the head. One noticeable difference between the two genera consists in the fact that whereas in Dracunculus the em- bryos lie free in all stages of growth in the uterine cavity, in Acan- thocheilonema they are still surrounded by a chorional envelope. Our new species is therefore an ovoviviparous Entozoon belonging, like Dracunculus, to that category of Nematodes which are parasitic only during the propagative state. It is, I believe, maintained by Schneider in the case of Spherularia (his views, however, being op- posed to those given by Sir John Lubbock in his admirable memoir on this genus), and by Bastian in the case of Dracunculus, that the mode of propagation in these wormis is entirely asexual, this opinion having received the general support of Prof. Huxley. For my own part I wish to say that when, in 1864, with a full knowledge of the facts brought forward as regards the Guinea-worm, I offered a contrary interpretation of the phenomena, I did so from no other motive than that of honest conviction; and even now I hold that an exclusively agamogenetic mode of propagation for these worms cannot be suc- cessfully maintained. Keeping before us those recent and important additions to our knowledge to which I have here called attention, I am of opinion that Dracunculus, in the form commonly known, will 14 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE (Jan. 13, turn out to be but one of two phases of the same female, the para- sitic, in contradistinction to the non-parasitic, form, having the power of reproducing agamogenetically. Probably it will eventually ap- pear that other worms known to us only in the female condition are forms of this character. Provisionally I place Spherularia and Acanthocheilonema in this category ; and should my conception of their parthenogenetic relations be ultimately proven correct, we shall have arrived at the solution of many difficult problems which have been put forward by writers and investigators. For example, as regards the Guinea-worms, Prof. Bastian very naturally asks, “* Why are females only discovered in the human body ?”’ and again, ‘Is there one species of Dracunculus only, or are there many, corre- sponding with different species of microscopic Filaride?” If my interpretation of the facts be correct, these aud suchlike questions are at once satisfactorily answered. If, as Carter supposes, Urolabes palustris be the progenitor of Dracunculus medinensis, there can be no impropriety in asserting a similar genetic relation for many allied forms. Not merely may we look to such antecedents in favour of the species already mentioned, but I have little hesitation in claiming a corresponding origin for the so-called “‘Loa”’ (Dracunculus loa, T. 8. C.), which infests the eyes of Negroes of the Angola coast— and for the Filaria (Dracunculus ethiopicus, Dies.) of Valenciennes, found in the cellular tissue of the extremities and abdomen of a Carnivore from Cordofan (felis guttata). Both of the above are known to science only in the female state ; and the same may be said of many other filarine species whose origin, migratory habits, and final destinations necessarily remain, in the present state of our knowledge, a mere matter of conjecture. In conclusion, therefore, let me repeat that I regard Acanthocheilonema as a parthenogenetic female whose embryos probably gain access to the outer world by first entering the intestinal canal of the “ host,”’ ultimately passing out by the natural passages. In the free state, like Rhabditis, they probably give rise to a new progeny by the ordinary sexual process, all or part of this progeny becoming parasitic and parthenogenetic females. 3. Brief History of the Introduction of Salmon (Salmo salar) and other Salmonide to the Waters of Tasmania. By Morton Atuport, F.Z.S., F.L.8. In the year 1841 the late Mr. Frederick Chalmers, of Brighton in Tasmania, who was then Master of a vessel trading from London, applied to Dr. Mackenzie, of Kinellan, by Dingwall, Ross-shire, Scotland, with a view to obtaining Salmon-fry for transport to Tas- mania. The fry were not obtained in time for the departure of the vessel, as appears by letters published in the ‘ Proceedings’ of the Royal Society of Tasmania (vol. i. p. 281); aud this abortive attempt would scarcely be worth recording but for the curious fact that even 1870.] INTRODUCTION OF SALMON INTO TASMANIA. 15 then Dr. Mackenzie suggested the sending impregnated roe as more likely to lead to success than any attempt to carry the living fish. The Doctor’s description of his method of impregnating the roe from fresh-killed fish by rubbing it and the milt together would, however, astonish a modern pisciculturist as much as his notion that the impregnated spawn placed in a basket of gravel and hung in the ship’s tank could possibly live many days in tropical weather. In the year 1848 a gentleman belonging to the Tasmanian Survey Department, Mr. James Ludovick Burnett (then on leave of absence in England), visited Mr. Young, of Inverness-shire, manager of the Duke of Sutherland’s Salmon-fisheries, and consulted him on the practicability of introducing Salmon and Trout into Tasmania. Mr. Young suggested two methods for trial—one, to bring out the spawn ; and the other, to bring young fish. On the whole, Mr. Young gave the preference to the latter method, which is the more remarkable as from the account of one of his experiments it is clear that he had accidentally been upon the verge of discovering the very method which, after many years, led to success. In the experiment alluded to, Mr. Young caused the fecundated ova, packed in baskets of gravel, to be hung in a running stream at different distances from the shore. During a severe frost one or two of the baskets nearest the bank, and which were in comparatively still water, were frozen hard on the surface, and Mr. Young supposed that the vitality of the eggs was destroyed; but he let them remain, and discovered that the only effect of the reduced temperature was to delay the hatching of the ova for several days. On August 13, 1849, Sir William Denison, then Lieutenant-Go- vernor of Tasmania, wrote to Earl Grey on the subject of the intro- duction of Salmon, and in his letter mentioned that several attempts had been made to bring out the spawn, but they hadall failed. Un- fortunately no official record seems to have been kept of such at- tempts ; but they were probably made in some of the vessels employed in the convict-service, and entrusted to men who took little or no interest in the experiment. A long correspondence afterwards took place on the subject, which was wound up on May 16, 1850, by a letter from Earl Grey declining to take any further steps in the matter on the ground that the project of fitting up a welled smack to carry out the living fish, as finally suggested by Mr. Young, would involve too great an expense. Mr. Burnett and Sir William Denison still firmly believed that Salmon were to be brought out; and that belief culminated in the first attempt, of which any detailed record can be found, to trans- ort Salmon-ova to Tasmania. The Home Government employed Mr. Gottlieb Boccius, under whose superintendence a large oval tub was constructed of wood cased in lead, capable of containing sixty gallons of water besides the requisite quantity of gravel ; and on the 31st of January, 1852, this tub, containing 50,000 ova of Salmon and Trout, was shipped on board the ‘ Columbus’ at London, and slung below and on one side of the fore hatchway. Mr. Boccius, who himself procured the ova, gave minute directions 16 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE (Jan. 13, as to the change of the water at fixed intervals, and warned the cap- tain of the vessel that he might expect the Trout-ova to hatch about the 15th and the Salmon-ova about the 20th of April. On the Ist of March, however, in latitude 14° 30’ north and longitude 26° west, the ova of both began to hatch, and continued to do so for about a fortnight, after which time the water became thick and putrid, the weather being intensely hot. As the ship approached colder lati- tudes, the water gradually cleared, but no symptoms of life appeared in the tub; and when the vessel arrived in Tasmania, Dr. Milligan, then Secretary of the Royal Society of Tasmania, and Mr. J. L. Burnett carefully examined, first the water in the tub, and then the gravel, but without finding any traces of either spawn or fish. Mr. Burnett, in an admirably written account of this experiment, published in the ‘ Proceedings’ of the Royal Society of Tasmania’ (vol. ii. p. 288), suggested that in future the temperature of the water in which the ova are placed should, if practicable, be regulated by means of ice. From a letter from the Duke of Newcastle to Sir William Denison, dated the 2nd of June, 1853, enclosing a voluminous report from Dr. Boccius on the causes of failure, it appears that the cost of the experiment in the ‘Columbus’ was £300, which was charged to the land-fund of the colony. On the 12th of June, 1852, J. C. Bidwell, Esq., Commissioner of Crown Lands in New South Wales, forwarded to His Excellency Sir William Denison a paper entitled ‘ Notes on the Establishment of Salmon and other Fish in the Rivers of Tasmania and New Zea- land,” which paper was published in the ‘ Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania’ (vol. ii. p. 326). The following extract will show that Mr. Bidwell was the first person who recommended the exact process by which success was ultimately attained more than ten years afterwards, though several have claimed the merit of the discovery at a later date. ‘‘ On mentioning the subject of the intro- duction of fish from foreign countries to the late Earl of Derby, he informed me that he had been extremely unsuccessful in his attempts to breed exotic fish in England ; and I do not think that there is an instance of any fish not belonging to the Cyprinide having been successfully established as colonists in any country ; but I believe the want of success may have arisen almost’entirely from the small number of individuals, which, if imported alive, it would be at an time possible to turn loose, and that if thousands could be liberated at once, the chances would be in favour of any predaceous fish es- tablishing itself in a new river in any suitable climate. Now to do this it would be necessary to bring and hatch the spawn. And I think that by packing spawn in ice there would be no difficulty in preserving its vitality for a much longer time than would be required. It is not probable that the vitality of fish-spawn would be destroyed even by freezing ; but by merely packing it in ice there would be no danger of actual freezing, as the ice would always be in a melting state.” Thus the whole difficulty was foreseen and provided against ; and 1870. ] INTRODUCTION OF SALMON INTO TASMANIA. 17 it seems marvellous now that Mr. Bidwell’s suggestion was uot earlier acted upon; but after the paper was read, it was little likely to attract attention, as it was indexed in the volume referred to under the letter B simply as a letter from J. C. Bidwell on the introduction of fish, and was only recently brought to light in the close search for every scrap of information relating to the early history of the Salmon ex- periment. Karly in the year 1858 the Royal Society of Tasmania appointed a committee of the Fellows to consider certain questions submitted by the then Colonial Secretary relative to the introduction of Salmon into Tasmania and the payment of a reward of £500 voted by the Tasmanian Parliament for such introduction. The report of this committee, dated the 16th of March, 1858, amongst other things, strongly urged on the Government the necessity of providing breed- ing-ponds for the deposition of ova or fry on their first arrival in the Colony ; and on this suggestion the Government afterwards acted. In the year 1859 Mr. James Arundel Youl, a gentleman who from that date expressed his conviction of ultimate success, and has exhi- bited untiring zeal and industry in the management of such portions of the various attempts as had to be conducted in Great Britain, pre- vailed upon a body of gentlemen in England, known as the Austra- lian Association, to take up the cause; and ultimately they despatched about 50,000 Salmon-ova in the ship ‘S. Curling’ from Liverpool, bound to Melbourne, under the charge of one Alexander Black. The ‘S. Curling’ sailed on the 25th of February, 1860, having fifteen tons of Wenham-Lake ice in an ice-house on board to keep down the temperature of the water supplied to the apparatus in which the ova were placed ; but on the 24th of April, and the fifty-ninth day out, the last of the ice melted and the last ovum died, no practical knowledge whatever having been derived from the experiment. By some accident no intimation of the intention to despatch ova by the ship ‘8. Curling’ reached Tasmania till after the departure of the vessel from England ; but upon the intelligence being received, and to prevent the loss of any ova which might have arrived, the Govern- ment caused suitable ponds to be rapidly constructed on the banks of a small stream known as the “ North-west Bay River,” about twelve miles from Hobart Town. , These ponds were ultimately abandoned in favour of a more suitable site. In the year 1860 the question of the introduction of Salmon was referred to a joint committee of both Houses of the Tasmanian Le- gislature; and, acting upon a suggestion of that committee, the Government afterwards appointed a body of Honorary Commissioners to whose management the whole experiment was thenceforth in- trusted. The next attempt was made in 1862, in the ‘ Beautiful Star,’ a small iron vessel of 120 tons burden, built fora steamer, but sent out under canvas. An ice-house was built between decks, and very elaborate appa- ratus of two kinds prepared for the reception of the ova, 50,090 in number. In the ice-house a deal box containing ova packed in wet Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1870, No. II. 18 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE (Jan. 13, moss was imbedded, at the suggestion of Mr. C. H. Moscrop, Ma- nager of the Wenham-Lake Ice Company, London, as appears by a letter from that gentleman published in the ‘ Times’ of the 13th of July, 1863. The management during the voyage was intrusted to Mr. William Ramsbottom, who had been engaged in Melbourne and sent to England for the purpose. On the 4th of March, 1862, the « Beautiful Star ’ left London, and on the 8th was compelled, through stress of weather, to put back to the Downs; in this short period from 6000 to 7000 of the ova died. On the 13th of March the © Beautiful Star’ left the Downs ; and on the 16th the filler-in of the screw propeller was carried away, which compelled her to put back to Scilly for repairs. The vessel left Scilly on the 24th of March, and encountered a furious gale in the Bay of Biscay on the 27th, during which time the ova were destroyed in vast numbers. Fine weather succeeded the gale; but it was manifest, from the delays already experienced and the bad sailing-qualities of the vessel, that the ice could not hold out even to get through the tropics. At the end of April and beginning of May the temperature of the water began to rise, and many of the ova died on the point of hatching, a large number with the head of the fish protruding. On the 8th of May Mr. Ramsbottom, much against his will, was compelled to enter the ice-house to procure blocks of ice, which he placed in the deck- tank, thus reducing the temperature of the water. After using a considerable portion of ice, Mr. Ramsbottom came upon the deal box which had been placed in the ice-house, the lid being broken by the rolling about amongst the ice. Lifting out some of the moss, Mr. Ramsbottom thought the ova looked healthy, and procured a vessel of clean water and placed ova and moss together init. To his utter astonishment he found nineteen living and healthy ova, which he carefully transferred to the trays in the suspended apparatus. On the 17th of May the ice was finished; on the same day the temperature of the water rose to 65°, and the last of the ova died, seventy-four days from the commencement of the voyage, and eighty- eight days from the taking of the spawn from thefish. Towards the end of April from three to six of the ova were hatched per day ; and thirty of those hatched appeared in perfect health; one lived ten days. Theovataken from the deal box lived nine hours longer than any of the others, and withstood a higher temperature. Taking into consideration the pertmacity with which a portion of the ova retained life for seventy-four days in spite of the disastrous circumstances to which they were subjected during this voyage, the Tasmanian Salmon Commissioners felt certain that the ova could be introduced, and made a strong appeal to the Government of the Colony to repeat the experiment. Upon receiving Mr. Ramsbot- tom’s report, they decided upon sending him to England expressly to try the experiment of packing ova in ice with a view of retarding their development; and this experiment was accordingly tried in London under the direction of Mr. Youl during the winter of 1862 and 1863. The wonderful success of that trial, showing that ova may be 1870.] INTRODUCTION OF SALMON INTO TASMANIA. 19 hatched safely after being buried in ice 150 days, has been fully published to the world; but why this was likely to prove successful has not perhaps been publicly explained. Even Mr. Frank Buck- land, in his book on fish-hatching, speaks of freezing the ova, and thereby greatly misleads his readers. It was long ago shown that actually to freeze ova was to kill them in a few days, or, at most, weeks. The question then was, how could they be kept at an equable tem- perature just above the freezing-point? Ifa block of ice (the sen- sible temperature of which is 32° Fahrenheit) be immersed in water of a higher temperature, a portion of the ice will melt until the heat of the water falls to 32° F., but no more of the ice will be afterwards melted until the temperature of the water is again raised. If the ice could cool the water below 32°, a portion of the water would be frozen ; but to effect this, a further portion of the ice must be melted, and water at 32° is not capable of melting ice. If vessels contain- ing creams be immersed in ice for a month, no change takes place in their contents ; but convert a portion of the surrounding ice to water by the admixture of any deliquescent salt, and the submerged creams are instantly frozen. Therefore by this beautiful provision of nature any substance above the freezing-point buried in ice can never fall to the freezing-point till the ice next to it is converted to water ; and so long as any ice remains, the buried substance will continue ata low temperature certainly, but above the freezing-point ; and to this principle success was due. After many interviews with the owners of various ships, Mr. Youl (to whom Tasmania is greatly indebted for his determined perseve- rance in this respect) received the munificent offer from Messrs. Money, Wigram, and Co. of 50 tons of room gratis in their clipper- ship ‘Norfolk,’ bound to Melbourne. An ice-house capable of holding 30 tons was built in a situation admirably chosen for the purpose—on the lowest deck, amidships, and equidistant from stem and stern, in the position in which the motion of the vessel would be least felt. With much difficulty, and at the cost of great per- sonal exertion on the part of all concerned, ahout 90,000 ova of the Salmon (Salmo salar) and about 1500 ova of the Trout (Salmo fario) were obtained and safely packed in deal boxes, each a foot long, 8 inches wide, and 4 inches deep. In some of the boxes a layer of charcoal was first placed on the bottom, then a layer of moss damped in pure water ; then ova were lightly placed on the moss, and the whole covered with another layer of damp moss, upon which the lid was screwed down. Inthe remaining boxes the charcoal was omitted, the packing otherwise being the same. Through the lid and bottom of each box several small holes were drilled; and all the ova were packed in 181 boxes. The boxes were next placed on the bottom of the ice-house, which was filled up with Wenham-Lake ice, and the whole securely closed. All being complete, the vessel sailed from London towards the end of January 1864, and left Falmouth on the 28th of that month. On the 15th of April the ‘ Norfolk’ arrived in Melbourne. On the next day the ice-hotise was opened and the small boxes unpacked. The lid of one box was then re- 20 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE (Jan. 13, moved by Mr. Ramsbottom with fear and trembling ; but, to his great satisfaction, a large number of the imbedded ova were found to be alive. Eleven of the small boxes were then left in Melbourne; and the remaining 170 were placed on board Her Majesty’s colonial steam-ship ‘ Victoria,’ in large open packing-cases with holes drilled in the bottoms. Broken ice was placed on the tops of the small boxes in each packing-case, larger ice was piled on the cases, and the whole were then covered with bags of sawdust and blankets; about half the ice had melted during the voyage. On the 17th of April the ‘ Victoria’ left Melbourne, and arrived at Hobart Town on the 20th. The packing-cases and ice (of which latter there still re- mained more than ten tons) were then carefully placed on a barge packed as before, and were towed to New Norfolk, twenty miles further up the Derwent than Hobart Town, by the steamer ‘ Emu,’ which was detained till a late hour on the night of the 20th on pur- pose. From New Norfolk the barge was towed by boats to the falls three miles further up the river on the morning of the 21st; and the packing-cases were then landed and slung on stout poles and carried by hand to the ponds already prepared at the river “ Plenty,” three miles further up. The remaining ice was transferred to the ponds in carts, the contents of each being well covered with straw. The first batch of cases arrived at the ponds about the middle of the day on Thursday the 21st of April, 1864, ninety days after the placing of the ova on board the ‘ Norfolk.’ On their arrival, Mr. Ramsbottom immediately proceeded to pre- pare the grayel-beds for the reception of the ova. A slight descrip- tion of the ponds is here necessary. These ponds are twenty-six miles from Hobart Town, and were arranged in accordance with designs brought from the Stormontfield establishment on the Tay. Water is led from the river Plenty by a race to a small plot of erass-land above flood-mark. Sluices are placed on this race to regulate the supply of water. From the main race a smaller one leads directly into the clearing-pond, which is circular, about five feet deep, and forty feet in diameter. Thence the water is led by two covered wooden troughs into an open wooden trough at right angles with the covered troughs. From the open wooden trough small sluices let off the water in any quantity desired directly into the gravel hatching-beds. These consist of wooden boxes about 5 feet long by 2 feet wide. There are twelve of them, arranged in four rows. The water passes with a slight fall into the upper end of the first box in each row, over the lower end of that box into the upper end of the second box, and so on to the lowest, where the water from each row passes over a series of shallow gravelly pools to a pond about 120 yards long and 40 feet wide, varying in depth from 2 to 9 feet. All the surplus water from the clearing-pond also finds its way into this larger pond by a covered drain, ensuring a permanent supply of clear cool water. All the entrances to and exits from the pond and hatching-beds are care- fully guarded by covering them with perforated zine. As the day on which the first of the ova arrived at the Plenty was warm, with a 1870.] INTRODUCTION OF SALMON INTO TASMANIA. 21 bright sun shining, a tent was erected over the gravel-beds, the temperature of the water in which was found to be 55° Fahr. Ice was then freely placed in the transverse open trough at the upper end of the gravel-beds and the temperature thus reduced to 44°. About four o’clock on Thursday, the 21st of April, the first box of ova was opened, and, to the dismay of Mr. Ramsbottom, a very large proportion of the eggs were dead; but in the second and third boxes affairs looked more hopeful, and by the time a dozen were unpacked it was manifest that a large proportion would be saved. In unpack- ing, as soon as the lid of each box was unscrewed, the top layer of moss was quickly removed, and the lower layer of moss with the ova was then lifted out, and at once turned upside down on to the cool’ water running over the gravel-beds. By this means the ova soon separated from the moss, and distributed themselves amongst the gravel, after which the moss was carefully removed bit by bit. The unpacking was continued by candle-light through a great portion of Thursday night, and was renewed at daylight on Friday morning. By Friday night the last of the boxes were fivished, and Mr. Rams- bottom calculated that about 35,000 living and healthy ova were safely deposited. Of these, only about 300 were Trout-ova, which were placed in a separate gravel-bed constructed on purpose and closed at each end by perforated zinc. The percentage of living ova varied greatly in the different boxes; but the largest number were invariably found in the boxes in which the ova were more thinly scattered amongst the moss, and had been subjected to ouly just enough pressure to keep them steady. During the unpacking on Thursday night several living ova were unavoidably picked out and left in the heaps of damp moss beside the gravel-beds through the night. On searching the heaps of moss on Friday morning, several ova were recovered from amongst the moss, and one or two from the stones underneath, and transferred safely to the water. Bedded in the moss of one of the boxes an English Wasp was found, which evinced slight signs of animation. On placing the in- sect in the sun for a few minutes it became quite lively and walked quickly away. It is true that wasps are scarcely desirable subjects for acclimatization, but surely this circumstance ought to teach us a useful practical lesson as to introducing valuable insects and other similar organisms, especially in their embryonic stages. A few of the boxes of ova had been placed in the vaults of the Wenham-Lake Ice Company for six weeks before the ‘ Norfolk’ sailed ; and in these boxes, though a larger percentage of ova were dead, the eyes of the fish were distinctly visible in those which were living, the development of the embryo having reached a higher stage. Before the whole of the ice was used up, the temperature of the water of the river Plenty fell to 42°, and averaged about 47° for some time afterwards. The only object in cooling the water with ice at first was to prevent the transition of temperature being too sud- den. For several days after the deposition of the ova Mr. Rams- bottom was busily engaged in removing all dead ova and pieces of 22 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE (Jan. 13, moss, charcoal, &c. from the gravel-beds; and for some time after- wards the average death-rate was a mere fraction ; but it increased as the hatching approached. On the 4th of May, 1864, Mr. Ramsbottom had the high gratifi- cation of seeing the first Trout burst its egg in Tasmanian water, and on the following day the first Salmon. The ova continued to hatch until the 15th of June, 1864, by which time Mr. Ramsbottom (then appointed Superintendent at the ponds) estimated the number of young Salmon at about 3000, and of young Trout at about 50. There are two reasons for the vast difference between the estimated number of living ova and the number of ‘hatched fish :—one, that a large percentage of the most healthy- looking ova turned out absolutely barren through defective impreg- nation; another, that a large number of deaths occur at the very point of hatching, the embryo dying without being able to free itself from the ege. Early in August the perforated zinc guards at the lower ends of the breeding-boxes were removed and the Salmon-fry permitted to drop down with the stream into the shallows at the upper end of the large Salmon-pond, whence they gradually found their way to the pond itself. By the end of August several of the Trout (all of which, up to this time, had remained in the trough in which they were hatched) died, and many others showed symptoms of disease. As no cause could be traced for this mortality, a gravelly rill was constructed at the upper end of the clearing-pond, and the entrances to and exits from the whole were guarded with perforated zinc. The Trout were then transferred to the rill; and it was ascertained that so many had hidden away under the gravel that, instead of 50, close upon 300 young fish were counted. In the clearing-pond the young Trout continued to thrive, and grew amazingly, no deaths being observed. Amongst the Salmon the mortality was, up to this time, trifling, being confined to such few weak fish as were driven against the perforated zine guards and had not strength to fight against the stream. On the 4th of October, 1864, a leak was discovered, by which a large run of water found its way from the Salmon-pond into the Plenty ; and, fearing lest the Salmon should have been escaping, the Superintendent placed a box in such a manner as to intercept any fish passing through. One was soon found in the box, and an attempt was unsuccessfully made to remedy the leak. From the 7th to the 25th of October a trench was cut across the place where the leak occurred, and the defective place puddled, and the leak ultimately stopped; but during these nineteen days 240 fry were captured which had passed through, and it is certain that a very large number had previously reached the Plenty. Till March 1865 everything continued to progress in a satisfac- tory manner at the ponds; the young fish, which had been at first supplied with boiled liver powdered fine, were now almost entirely fed on gentles, and up to the 10th of March exhibited all the ap- pearance of vigorous health. From the 10th to the 15th of March no less than forty parr died; all of them appeared plump, well-grown 1870. } INTRODUCTION OF SALMON INTO TASMANIA, 23 fishes; and it was difficult to assign any reason for their deaths. Owing to an unusually hot and dry autumn, the Plenty was very low, and the temperature of the water rose above its ordinary summer heat. This may have been the cause of the mortality, especially as the Salmon-pond then consisted almost entirely of still water; and the Commissioners therefore determined to liberate the bulk of the parr at once. Up to the 19th of March nine more fish died ; and on that and the two following days the pond was lowered, and 419 Salmon parr were liberated into the River Plenty, halfa mile above its junction with the Derwent. Fourteen of the smallest fishes caught were retained in the pond ; and a number which could not be caught, and of which number no accurate estimate could be made, still remained. Many of the parr liberated exceeded 5 inches in length, being then ten months old. Every thing progressed favourably from the end of March ; and on the 23rd of October, 1865, the first fish which had assumed the Smolt dress was seen in the Salmon-pond, and between that time and the end of the year thirty-three fine Smolts were liberated. In Ja- nuary, 1866, some alterations were made in the clearing-pond ; thirty- eight Trout (Salmo fario) were then liberated into the Plenty, 133 being returned to the pond. The Tasmanian Government, encouraged by the success of the attempt in the ‘ Norfolk,’ determined to obtain a second shipment, that no chance might be lost of rapidly carrying the undertaking to a successful issue; and on the 8th day of February, 1866, the ship ‘Lincolnshire’ left Plymouth bound for Melbourne, having on board about 103,000 ova of Salmon (Salmo fario) and 15,000 ova of Sea- trout (Salmo trutta) stowed in an ice-house of rather larger capa- city, but of much the same construction as that built in the ship ‘Norfolk’ for the same purpose two years before. The whole of the arrangements for shipping were superintended by Mr. James A. Youl, who again exhibited the determined zeal upon which so much depended in the former experiment. The method of packing the ova in the boxes and the boxes in the ice-house was identical with that adopted in the ‘Norfolk.’ After a rather long passage of seventy-nine days, the ‘ Lincolnshire’ arrived at Hobson’s Bay on the 30th of April, 1866, and the ova and ice were at once transhipped to the steamship ‘ Victoria,’ again most liberally placed at the dis- posal of the Tasmanian Salmon Commissioners by the Victorian Government, and arrived in the Derwent on the 4th of May, and by 8 p.m. on the following day the last of the ova were placed in the hatching-boxes at the Plenty, the water, by the help of the remain- ing ice, being reduced to 45° F. One remarkable fact in this experiment was the forward state of the larger portion of the ova, the fish being distinctly visible, fur- nishing abundant proof that a large number, at any rate, had been successfully impregnated. This was especially observable in the Sea-trout, the pupils of the eyes in which last stood out as black spots on a yellowish-white ground, the enveloping tissue being more transparent than in Salmon-ova. 21 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE [Jan. 13, The proportion of living ova deposited was estimated at above 45 per cent. of all sent out. Since the deposition of the ova in April, 1864, several great improvements had been effected by the Commissioners in the arrangements at the Plenty, the chief of which was the alteration of the gravel in the breeding-boxes. ‘To explain the change and the advantages of the present plan, it must be re- membered that in its own rivers the Salmon chooses for its spawning- beds shallow rapids running over a bottom of coarse river-gravel, consisting of pebbles weighing from half a pound to three or four pounds, the spaces between which are of course large enough to per- mit the ova to roll down to depths varying from a few inches to a foot and a half. This is no doubt a wise provision of nature for the protection of the ova and the helpless young fry from their innume- rable natural enemies, but has serious objections in artificial rearing. To begin with, it is absolutely impossible, in the first instance, to separate the dead from the living ova; all must be rapidly trans- ferred to the water together, and the dead ova gradually picked out afterwards. In 1864 numbers of dead and living ova together got out of sight between the interstices of the gravel purposely made to resemble as nearly as possible the natural spawning-beds, and much of the living ova was assuredly destroyed by contact with that which was decomposing, to say nothing of the ill effects which the decay- ing ova would have upon the water generally. Again, it is now an ascertained fact that a considerable admixture of atmospheric air is indispensable in hatching the ova of most of the Salmonide, and that, consequently, the further the ova are from the surface of the water, the more tumble and splash you must have in the water to drive bubbles of air through and amongst the gravel. It follows that if in artificial rearing the ova are allowed to get some 3 or 4 inches down into the gravel, a sharp stream of water must be directed over the artificial beds to supply them with the air necessary—but that if it is desired to keep the ova in sight, they must be placed on fine gravel, and an even, gentle stream of water about an inch or an inch and a half in depth must flow through the beds. As in the artificial process the boxes are thoroughly guarded from all possible enemies, the advantages are so manifestly in favour of keeping the ova in sight, that the Commissioners replaced the coarse gravel for- merly used by an even bed of very fine pebbles on which the ova rested about an inch from the surface of the stream, which was made to flow gently and evenly through the boxes. The result was, that the moment an egg became opaque, or, in other words, died, it was removed, and all danger to the neighbouring ova was avoided. Be- sides this alteration, a long series of gravelly rapids, with a few deep places interspersed, was added to the lower end of the Salmon-pond, and a new circular pond with a gravelly rill attached was constructed for the Salmon-trout. On the 8th of May, 1866, the first Salmon-ovum per ‘ Lincoln- shire ’ hatched, and on the 12th of the same month the first Sea-trout ovum. By the time all were hatched the Superintendent reported that he had counted up to 4490 Salmon-fry and 496 Sea-trout fry, 1870. ] INTRODUCTION OF SALMON INTO TASMANIA. 25 and estimated those he had been unable to count of the Salmon-fry at about 1500. In July, 1866, all the remaining parr, seventy-seven in number, of the shipment per ‘Norfolk’ were liberated; and every fish showed distinctly the approaching change to the Smolt form. On the 3rd of July ova and milt were taken from the first pair of Trout (S. fario) which ever arrived at maturity in Australia, By the 7th of August fourteen females had been stripped, yielding about 4050 ova. Shortly afterwards five pairs of Trout (ten of the thirty- eight fish turned into the Plenty) were observed constructing rids in that river. The Trout in the river were considerably larger than the largest in the clearing-pond, though several of the latter weighed more than a pound each. During July and August, 1866, a large number of deaths took place amongst the fry from the last shipment of ova; the total loss being 470 Salmon-fry and 65 Salmon-trout fry. On the 30th of September, 1866, the Trout-ova taken from the fish in the clearing-pond commenced hatching ; but a large number of eggs proved barren. During August the fry, both of Salmon and Salmon-trout, ex ‘Lincolnshire,’ were permitted to escape into the large pond and the rill attached, with the exception of a few pairs of Salmon-trout, re- tained in the pond and rill purposely-constructed for them in the hope that spawn might be obtained without the previous migration to the sea. From the end of September the operations at the ponds were simply repetitions of what had taken place with regard to the first experiment, some variety occurring through the addition of the Salmon-trout and the occasional capture of large Trout in the Plenty. One was taken on the 13th of January, 1867, 173 inches in length and weighing three pounds. Although the bulk of the Smolts of the first shipment left the river in October and November, 1865, and should, according to most authorities, have returned as Grilse in the February follow- ing, no report reached the Commissioners of any thing resembling Grilse having been seen. Mr. Ramsbottom always maintained that the Smolts did not return as Grilse in three months, but that they would return in one year and three months; and so con- vinced was he of the correctness of this view, that he made no sys- tematic watch for the fish in 1866. The mere fact that no report of the fish being seen reached the Commissioners by no means proves that they did not return in February 1866; for it must be remembered that, under the most favourable view of the case, not more than 1000 or 1500 Smolts can have left the Plenty, and were thenceforth distributed over a river but little smaller than the Severn in England, and into which numbers of large tributaries, admirably suited for Salmon, emptied themselves. In February and March 1867 fifteen persons, including Mr, Ramsbottom, reported that they had seen Salmon or Grilse in the fresh waters of the river Derwent. Several of these witnesses were gentlemen of high respectability ; and it is impossible to conceive that 26 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE (Jan. 13, they could have been mistaken, because no indigenous fish in the fresh waters of the Derwent (except Eels) ever exceeds one foot in length or weighs more than three-quarters of a pound. Mr. Ramsbottom began early in February 1867 to walk morning and evening from his house to the Derwent and back (more than two miles each way) to one likely spot, keeping a regular systematic watch for the Grilse; and the following extract from his journal of March 15 will serve to show the deep interest he took in his work. “Tt is with feelings of thankfulness that I can now say I have this day seen a Salmon in the Derwent. “This morning, after an early breakfast, I started off, for the sixty- ninth time, to the river to look for Salmon. At about 10 a.m. my assistant, J. Stannard, came to me at the Dry Creek and told me that Lumsden (water-bailiff) had seen no less than half a dozen Salmon playing about in the long pool where he was on the look-out this morning. This joyful news again put new life into me; and I at once started off for the spot, as I now meant to see a Salmon if one was to be seen at all during the day. Ata little before 12 I took a seat on a log which is in the river about 15 feet from the side, in order to command a good view; here I sat for about two hours under a burning sun, when I heard a kind of rush behind and rather below me. I looked round, and saw it was the motion of a large fish, but could not persuade myself it wasa Salmon. In twenty minutes more I saw the partial rise of a fish, head and breast out of water, but could not be sure yet as to whether this was a Salmon or not, as the fish rose at too great a distance from me, and did not make the same splash in the water as I thought a Salmon ought to do; yet the fish looked larger than any I had before seen in these waters, so that I now got very uneasy in mind, sometimes doubt- ing, and at other times believing, they must really be the Salmon ; and in this excited and perplexed state of mind I was kept until 3.40 p.m., when, to my exceeding great joy, I was delighted to see nothing else but a Salmon jump clean out of the water, show himself broadside on ; and, judging from his appearance, I should call him a Grilse of about 5 lbs. weight. On seeing the Salmon, it is im- possible for me to describe my joyful feelings.” Three days afterwards (on the 18th of March) Mr. Ramsbottom saw seven fish rise in the pool above mentioned, two of which he stated positively were Salmon. On the 17th of June, 1867, a large male Trout was found dead in the Plenty. It wasa spent fish, much knocked about probably by fighting with other males: it measured 193 inches in length, and weighed 3} lbs. This fish was just three years old. During June, July, and August of 1867 the Trout (Salmo fario) were again stripped of their spawn. artificially, about 11,500 ova having been taken from forty-seven fish. After this spawning several of the spent fish were killed and eaten by a family of Yellow-bellied Beaver-rats (Hydromys chrysogaster) which found their way to the rill, but which were ultimately trapped and destroyed. A large supply of this season’s rout-ova was sent to Victoria and 1870. ] INTRODUCTION OF SALMON INTO TASMANIA. 27 New Zealand ; and on the 14th of September the residue commenced hatching. About 2000 young fish were ultimately distributed from this source amongst suitable streams in various parts of Tasmania. A report having reached the Commissioners that Salmon had been seen at Dunrobin, thirty miles further up the river than its junction with the Plenty, Mr. Ramsbottom was despatched to the spot, and learnt that a young man, a native of the colony, who knew nothing whatever of Salmon, had a month before stated to his employer that he had seen a pair of very large fish on one of the shallows of the river. Mr. Ramsbottom questioned this young man very closely ; and his accurate description of what he saw left no doubt on Mr. Ramsbottom’s mind that a pair of Grilse had actually spawned in the upper waters; and though the river was too high from recent rain to find the rid, the spot pointed out was one as well suited for spawning-ground as any in the world. On the 19th of October (the majority of the parr hatched from the shipment of ova per ‘ Lincolnshire’ having assumed the Smolt dress) the perforated zine obstructions were permanently removed ; and such of the fish as chose to leave found their way from time to time into the Plenty, and thence to sea. On the 10th of November, 1867, Mr. Ramsbottom left the ponds at the Plenty with 270 Trout-fry in an apparatus of his own arran- ging, and landed in Melbourne on the 15th with 248 living fish, a feat in pisciculture which had probably never been surpassed, and which again proved his peculiar fitness for the position he filled. During the months of February and March 1868 the river Derwent was unusually high, heavy rains having fallen upon the mountain- ranges in which its western tributaries rise ; and partly on this account, and partly on account of the serious illness of the Superintendent (Mr. Ramsbottom), no regular watch was kept for the return of the fish : two or three reports only of their having been seen (one from an authentic source) reached the ears of the Commissioners. On the 27th of June, 1868, a Trout (S. fario) was caught in the Plenty, 26 inches long, and weighing 9} lbs. As a large number of the Trout-ova artificially taken during the seasons of 1866 and 1867 proved barren, whereas the eggs naturally deposited in the rill almost invariably contained fish, it was deter- mined to remodel the rill at the upper end of the Trout-pond, and to make it resemble as nearly as possible a series of natural spawning- beds. This was done, and a temporary fence was erected down each side as a shelter, from which the fish could be observed and to prevent their being disturbed while on the spawning-beds. During the winter of 1868 no spawn was taken artificially, but the whole of the Trout were left to their own devices. For more than a month pairs of fish could be seen day after day making their rids and depo- siting the ova. When the last of the fish had spawned, a perforated zine guard was fixed across the lower end of the rill, and the old fish thus prevented from leaving the Trout-pond and interfering with the ova or young fish. Large numbers of the ova being required for distribution in Victoria, New Zealand, and Tasmania, the water in 28 MR. MORTON ALLPORT ON THE (Jan. 13, the rill was occasionally lowered, a rid or two opened, and the ova carefully picked out by means of a curved glass tube. Scarcely a dead egg was found; and from one shipment of 800 ova sent to New Zealand, 750 fry were liberated at four months old. In due course the rill became alive with thousands of Trout-fry, which were dis- tributed in numbers of suitable streams and lakes in divers parts of Tasmania. Another large shipment of Trout-fry was also successfully transported to Victoria in Mr. Ramsbottom’s apparatus, under the personal superintendence of Mr. John Buckland, one of the Salmon Commissioners, who, out of 226 taken from the ponds, delivered 225 healthy fish to the Acclimatization Scciety in Melbourne, thus ac- complishing even a greater feat than that performed by Mr. Rams- bottom the year before. During this season the numbers of fish seen spawning in the Plenty were amazing ; and for several miles up the river, rids were to be seen on every suitable spot. Some of these rids were from 8 to 10 feet long, and must have been formed by enormous fish. During the winter of 1868 Mr. Ramsbottom, who had long been suffering from lung-disease, became much worse, and sailed for Sydney on leave of absence, in the hope that the change might benefit him; but he died in September, universally regretted by all who knew him or took any interest in the Salmon experiment. In reporting the death of their excellent Superintendent to the Government, the Salmon Commissioners unanimously expressed their sense of his great merit and the loss which they and the enter- prise in which they were engaged had sustained in his death. In October 1868 the residue of the parr brought by the ‘ Lin- colnshire’ put on their silvery scales, and took their departure from the pond seawards in the form of Smolts. During the summer of 1868 and 1869 reports of Salmon or Grilse having been seen were numerous; and in March of the latter year, the river being low and bright, the fish were seen so frequently at a favourite pool near the entrance of the Plenty, that numbers of people used to spend the evening watching for them; and on one occasion no less than twenty people were gratified by seeing several large fish, which could only be Salmon, sporting on the sur- face and occasionally breaching above the water. Amongst others, several residents on and near the river, who had always been most sceptical as to the presence of Salmon in the Derwent, became con- verted, and strongly condemned in others that disbelief which they themselves had fully concurred in but a short time before. At this time the Commissioners and others made many unsuccess- ful attempts to capture a fish that had returned from the sea. The cause of failure can be readily understood by any one who has seen a large river, the banks of which are, for the most part, ina state of nature. There being an absence of large indigenous fish, no motive has hitherto existed for clearing the dead timber from the stream or the living scrub from the banks; and before either the angler or the net-fisherman can ply his calling successfully, considerable expense must be incurred in preparing suitable stations. 1t might be thought 1870. ] INTRODUCTION OF SALMON INTO TASMANIA. 29 that at any rate it would not be difficult to hook a fish, even if it could not be landed ; but it must be remembered that the fish to be caught were yet few in number, and that small indigenous fish swarm in myriads, furnishing such a supply of food that no bait will be likely to tempt the Salmon till this profusion is somewhat thinned. It is possible that Grilse or Salmon might have been taken in the tidal waters between Hobart Town and New Norfolk, a great part of which has been and could be worked with seine nets; but the local fishermen had so denuded the river of indigenous species of fair size by excessive netting at all seasons, that they had been for several years compelled to use nets of so small a mesh that even aSmoltcould not pass through; and rather than run the risk of sacrificing the whole experi- ment by the destruction of any of the small consignments of Smolts sent seaward, the Commissioners exercised the power given them by the Legislature, and closed the river above Hobart Town altogether from the time the first batch of Smolts entered the brackish water. All attempts to take fish having failed, when the first rains of winter came on and the fish proceeded further up the river, the Commis- sioners came to the conclusion that the first undeniable proof they should now get of the success of the experiment would be the cap- ture of Parr or Smolts in the coming spring, as such Parr or Smolts could only be the progeny of fish returned from sea, the last of the Smolts from the transported ova having left the ponds in the spring of 1868 and being therefore either dead or approaching grilsehood. In June 1869 the Trout again commenced spawning in their rill; and towards the end of the same month five pairs of the Salmon- trout (Salmo ¢trutta) formed rids on the shallows attached to their pool, which shallows are now, in October, alive with their fry. The suc- cess of this portion of the experiment may therefore be considered as complete as that of the Trout (8. forio), as a noble river, the Huon, has been purposely left unstocked, with the intention of turning into it all the Salmon-trout fry except those retained for a breeding-stock. About the middle of October 1869 a strong freshet came down the Derwent, the result of heavy rains at its sources; and on the night of the 21st of October four fishermen were hauling their seine on a sea-beach about two miles below Hobart Town, and on the opposite side of the estuary of the Derwent. At one of the hauls almost the only fish in the net was a well-grown healthy Salmon- smolt over 10 inches in length, and which, though taken in water as salt as the ocean, had but lately left fresh water; for the silvery scales rubbed off at the slightest touch, showing the colouring of the parr beneath. Half an hour later, and on a beach a mile nearer the town, a second Smolt, not quite so large as the first, was captured. The seine net used was a large-meshed one of an inch from knot to knot, which accounts not only for the capture of a single Smolt at each haul, though they are usually gregarious, but also for the unusual size of the specimens; the probability is that the net had in each instance surrounded a school, but that the or- dinary-sized fish had easily passed through, while these two, larger 30 DR. J. MURIE ON IRREGULARITY [Jan. 13, than their brethren, had been dragged out. The fishermen, well knowing that these were not indigenous fish, made a shrewd guess at the nature of their capture, and, on the 22nd of October, brought them to the Salmon Commissioners, who at once pronounced them veritable Smolts*. Before concluding, it may be well to state that the whole of the expenses hitherto incurred in the conduct of the experiment be- tween January 1860 and October 1869 amount to £8835 12s. 2d. Of this sum, £6990 11s. 2d. was paid by the Tasmanian Government, £995 1s. by the Victorian Government, £200 by the Acclimatiza- tion Society of Victoria, £300 by the Provincial Government of Canterbury, New Zealand, £200 by the Provincial Government of Southland, New Zealand, and £150 by the Provincial Government of Otago, New Zealand. Credit must also be given to the Victorian Government for the large amount which must have been expended in freight had not H.M.C.S.S. ‘ Victoria’ been twice so lib~ placed at the disposal of the Tasmanian Salmon Commissioners. 4, Additional Memoranda as to Irregularity in the Growth of Salmon. By James Muniz, M.D., F.L.S., Prosector to the Society. (Plate II.) PRELIMINARY NOTICE. When I communicated to the Society some observations in con- nexion with the supposed arrest of development of the Salmon (see P. Z.S. 1868, p. 247), I purposely held back memoranda in support of the view therein enunciated. Having, as it were, registered the data occurring within my own ken, my further intention was to in- stitute a series of experiments, with the object of crucially testing the truth or fallacy of the doctrine. Unforeseen circumstances happened, depriving me of that auxi- liary assistance necessary for the fulfilment of the requisite conditions. But it is probable that other parties may be favourably placed to try the issue of experiments, to set the matter at rest; hence I make note of what seems a feasible plan. I propose that some one resident close to a Salmon river should obtain a quantity of impregnated and undoubted Salmo-salar ova— some of this to be forwarded, and deposited in the tanks at the Gar- dens, where, after hatching, careful notes of the growth and changes &c. are to be made; due precaution also to be taken that batches of the young fish shall be placed under varied circumstances, 7. e. as respects the size of the reservoir, food, &c.; on the other hand, the * [One of these “Smolts” was sent home to be exhibited when the present paper was read, but upon being submitted to Dr. Giinther’s examination was dekeannes by him to be a dwarfed example of Salmo trutta, and not a S. salar. J “‘SCTIONON TVS dun .2ereH NF mip Pp neelacgs sai P= ih 2 kl _ 1g70.1, :,° IN THE GROWTH OF SALMON, 31 remainder of the ova left in charge of the correspondent to receive widely different treatment—hatching to be carried on in the open air, and the tiny fish, once out, confined in a pond. Reared to the Smolt condition, when the migratory restlessness occurred, some might be marked and allowed to go seaward, the condition of those left behind being noted. During the second or third season, as the case might be, others to be allowed to depart, whilst a few are per- manently retained in the pond. Three years or less from the commencement of the experiment, in the event of a marked grown Grilse or Salmon being caught, specimens from the Society’s tanks, the open-air pond, and it to be rigidly compared side by side. In the intervals specimens of the progressive ages and stages to be preserved in spirits, and, as apparent changes take place, figures and annotations thereon duly registered. The result of experiments conducted somewhat in the above fashion would, I consider, conclusively prove whether or not Salmon are temporarily or definitely arrested in their development when retained for a considerable period in fresh water. At all events all chance of the denial of the parentage of the fish would be obviated. Or, again, if the breeders of Salmon, say at the stock-ponds in Perthshire, could be induced to fertilize the ova of a full-grown Salmon, and transmit the same to the Society, I venture to say the ova would be attentively watched during the process of hatching, and afterwards the phenomena and stages of growth duly recorded. Furthermore, could the bodies of the parents, male and female, be likewise transmitted to London for identification, all possibility of error would be prevented. As appears plain from what has happened with those already reared in the Zoological Gardens, it is of the utmost importance that the parents should bear witness of the ova being those of genuine Salmo salar. It is, indeed, much to be desired that some such well-attested obser- vatious should be pursued ; for notwithstanding the asseverations of several trustworthy observers, subsequently to be cited, there still remains a lurking suspicion that error of data may have crept in. I urge therefore upon pisciculturalists, and such as are interested in solving a physiological, or, rather, zoological problem of high value, the benefit science would derive from the authentication or denial of the alleged circumstantial evidence. This is my plea for intruding the above suggestions and further memoranda upon the Society. I trust that this second notice may stir up those at home, or fish- rearers abroad, to follow out the investigation. I may premise that I have not entered on the task in a contro- versial mood, but to incite further research on the matter. More- over it is possible those interested in the question may wish to refer to the data, be they merely asserted or be they proven, concerning the rearing and detention in pure fresh water for so long a period of fish considered to be Salmon. It may be pardonable on my part, then, to examine more narrowly than heretofore the grounds of opinion, favourable or adverse, espe- cially as the whole matter is one involving biological laws of the 32 DR. J. MURIE ON IRREGULARITY [Jan. 13, » highest consequence as regards the determination of species, sup- posed transition of allied forms, and questionable hybridity. With these remarks I proceed to reproduce my previously sup- pressed discussion of facts and published data. AFFIRMATION. I. The historical evidence.—What points to the truth of this (7. e. that the fish described are Salmon) has already been given (see P.Z. 8. 1868, p. 247); but it undoubtedly contains a weak point ; otherwise the whole matter were settled. While the ova received in the Gardens on the 8th January, 1863, may have, as related, veritably undergone all the subsequent changes ascribed, this does not prove their being in the first instance ova of Salmo salar. Messrs. Buck- land and Bartlett assume them to have been so, and add validity by stating that the size and appearance of the ova convinced them of their genuineness ; for the ova of the Great-Lake Trout differ suffi- ciently to be recognized by the naked eye. As a sequel to the heretofore described specimens, it is most im- portant to note that one of the fish produced from the ova of the Rhine Salmon, hatched in the Gardens in February, 1863, died on the Ist December, 1867. It was sent to Mr. Frank Buckland, who found on examination that it was a pregnant female. He states that 117 ova, nearly ripe, were present in the abdominal cavity, lying perfectly loose therein. This female weighed 4 oz., and mea- sured 83 inches in length. Mr. Buckland believes “that, had this fish lived another fortnight or three weeks, these ova would have been quite fit to be deposited in a nest, after the fashion of an ordi- nary full-grown salmon that had made its two or three journeys from the fresh water to the sea”’ *. Il. Eeternal resemblances to Salmon.—It can hardly be denied that, so far as external appearance is concerned, the fishes bear the stamp of young Salmon in the Parr condition. This applies more especially to that figured as No. 1 (Pl. xxi. P. Z. S. 1868); the other, No. 2 (/.¢.), is more brindled and spotted than is commonly the case in the Parr; but this in part may be due to the nature of its habitation. The form of the bodies, the relative dimensions of snout to head, head to body, shortness of maxillary, colour of adi- pose fins, dentition, shape of caudal fins, and contour of preeopercu- lum all agree with Salmo salar, and not with other species of Salmo. III. Published statements and experiments.—Reference to a few of the better substantiated cases of Salmon reared and continuously kept in fresh water may be interesting at this juncture. 1. Yarrell (Brit. Fishes, vol. i. p. 172, 3rd edit. 1859) mentions that a Scottish landed proprietor in 1831 put some Salmon-fry into a freshwater pond. These were taken out in 1833, to all appearance * See an account of this interesting specimen in ‘ Land and Water’ for Dee. 7, 1867, vol. iv. p. 820. Preserved in spirits as a preparation, this same fish was shown at the Meeting the evening the former paper was read. It now forms one of the series in the Museum of Fish-culture at the Horticultural Gardens. 1870.] IN THE GROWTH OF SALMON, 33 Salmon. They weighed from 2 to 3 Ibs. each; their flesh was pale in colour. 2. The same acute naturalist has published a separate volume ‘On the growth of Salmon in Freshwater’ (1839), wherein six coloured illustrations of fish of the natural size, at various stages during the first two years of their growth, are given. The speci- mens figured show very well the progressive growth and change of dress with age. Yarrell remarks that there is a comparative defi- ciency of general growth in the older specimens. One of the largest measured 14 inches long and weighed 14 ounces. 3. Lloyd states that near Katenberg there is a salmon-fishery. “These salmon are bred in the lake, and, in consequence of cata- racts, cannot have access to the sea.”” They are small in size and inferior in flavour. 4. I may as well here quote the opinion of another eminent Scan- dinavian pisciculturist, Prof. Rasch, of the Christiania University. Writing to an English friend *, among other matters he says, ‘‘ The assertion of some of your countrymen that the Salmon cannot be acclimatized so as to become entirely a freshwater fish is quite at variance with the results of experiments we have made in Norway. Some years ago Hetting hatched out numbers of Salmon-ova, which he subsequently turned loose in the Tyri-fiord; and during the last two years fish have been caught in that lake, resembling in every respect ‘Salmon proper.’ It is impossible for them, as you know, to return thither, even should they succeed in reaching the sea. ‘As regards acclimatizing Salmon to fresh water, our enclosures at Greffsen+ are too small. But if in larger pieces of water it be only possible to prevent their first migration to the sea after they have assumed the Smolt dress, they will readily accustom them- selves to their freshwater home. And should the water be a very large lake, such as Ladoga, Werner, Peipus, and as rich in nourish- ing food, the freshwater Salmon will then attain about the same size as the Salmon of the sea.” 5. Mr. George Anderson, of Glasgow, communicated the follow- ing authentic case to the ‘ Field’ (see 23rd and 30th June, 1866) air This gentleman obtained in 1862 about thirty specimens of Salmon parr from the well-known Stormontfield Salmon-ponds§. The fish, as he observes, were then two years old, but had not put on the Smolt dress preparatory to migration. Twenty-nine of the Parr were placed in a freshwater pond well supplied with Minnows and other food. In June 1866 the pond * Who, under the initials “ N. R. B.,” has published the letters in ‘ Land and Water,’ vol.i. pp. 221-245 (March 31st and April 7th, 1866). f An establishment close to Christiania. { Iam indebted to Mr. Charles Darwin for calling my attention to this in- teresting notice. § A pretty sure guarantee that the fish were the young of Salmo salar, as it is not at all likely that the trained eyes of Mr. Buist and other experts would be deceived in them—nor, indeed, that ova specially destined to stock the river Tay, and not, as in Huningue, exported, should be chosen from other than pure- bred Salmon. Proc. Zoox. Soc.—1870, No. LI. 34 DR. J. MURIE ON IRREGULARITY (Jan. 13, was run off, when three good-sized Salmon were found to have sur- vived ; these were bright, lively, and healthy, but ill-grown. One of these specimens sent to London weighed 15 oz., measured 144 inches in its greatest length, and had a girth of 63 inches. The head was 3% inches from the snout to the extremity of the oper- culum, and appeared large enough for a 5-lb. fish. It is greatly to be regretted one of these three unusually interest- ing specimens was not preserved in spirits and forwarded to the British Museum. 6. Lastly, I shall advert to an account, by Mr. Frank Buckland, of a ‘Salmon that had never seen the sea’”’*. This specimen was obtained from the river Wye in 1862, in the Parr condition, and transferred to a pond through which a streamlet of water ran. Four years afterwards it was taken out as a Salmon 11 inches long. IV. Irregularity of growth.—The life-history of Salmo salar, as all admit, is a most extraordinary one. The exceeding rapidity of their growth between their descent to and return from the sea is marvellous. But there are still two points as remarkable, viz. that a retardation of development is far from uncommon; and, on the other hand, causes occasionally ensue seeming as it were to stimu- late and quicken the usual accession of growth. Since Shaw’s ex- periments on the growth of Salmon-fry +, other observers have noted, and, in fact, it is now universally known to all those practically conversant with artificial Salmon-culture, that of the first year’s Smolts only some migrate seawards, while many of them remain behind in the fresh water. In the second year it also occasionally happens that in some fish no desire of migration ensues; but the accession of migratory instinct takes place in the ensuing season, or even later. In other words, some Smolts ripen earlier than others, and those remaining behind, which are slower in their seasonal mi- gratory instinct, remain apparently stationary as to growth. The cause of the retardation of the migratory stimulus, so far as I am aware, has not been satisfactorily accounted for; but clear evidence exists that the young self-detained Salmon are little or no larger . than their brethren a year or two younger. Their development is more or less retarded for the time being—but not necessarily con- tinuously so; for as soon as migration occurs, the usual growth concomitant with a sea-water visit takes place. Here, then, we have, from natural causes, retention and arrest of growth of young Salmon in a comparatively healthy condition in fresh water for two years or more. If such a fact or premise be granted, it seems to follow, as a necessary consequence, that if Salmon arrived at the Parr condition be prevented from migrating, they either remain stunted or increase in magnitude in a very diminutive ratio compared with their fellows that have spent a season in the sea-water. Regarding increase of size generally, and also unusual accretion of growth, in Salmonoids, this, as most authorities agree, is greatly, if not entirely, dependent on the abundance or scarcity of food, * Figured and described in ‘Land and Water,’ vol. i. June 2, 1866. t Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. vol. xiy. ke. 36 DR. J. MURIE ON IRREGULARITY [Jan. 13, and the extent of the water in which they abide. Many facts might be adduced in support of this ; but one of recent occurrence may serve the purpose of illustration*. The experiments at Stormont- field, in Perthshire, already adverted to, are too well known to need further comment ; suffice it to say that there can be little doubt of these ponds containing the produce of genuine Salmo salar. On the 20th of May 1868, at the above piscicultural establishment, “Peter of the Pools” (the nom de plume of an experienced Salmon- rearer) observed great variation in the size of the smolts of the same age—some of the two year-old fish being fully a fourth larger than others, and their bodies proportionally plump. This increased growth was found to be dependent on their feeding on molluscous animals; for in the pond which the large Smolts inhabited vast quantities of Limneus peregra had taken up their abode among the aquatic plants. NEGATION. I. Not true Salmon?—I had Dr. Giinther’s permission to state that in his opinion the specimens reared in the Gardens (cf. P. Z. 8. 1868, p. 247) are not true Salmo salar, as he considers their history a doubtful one, and furthermore, in some respects, they disagree with the characters assigned by him to that species. He justly lays stress upon the weak point that the ova may or may not have been the produce of a female Salmo salar, and may or may not have been impregnated by the milt of a male of the same species. He thinks that among the immense numbers of Salmon-ova yearly sent off from the hatching-establishment at Huningue on the Rhine, there is likelihood of mixture occasionally occurring in the transit, and also that fish which are not true Salmon may be mistaken for them and thus error arise. The chance that fortuitous circumstances might give rise to the last-mentioned error has already to some extent been admitted. It is well to remember, however, that Salmon-ova are distinguishable from those of the Great-Lake Trout, with which they may have been most readily confounded, by their greater size and deeper yellowish tint. Now as regards constant characters defining the species, and thereby, by the absence of such, excluding the imperfectly developed specimens from being considered as representatives of Salmo salar, Linn., I shall take three into consideration—the number of the ver- tebree, of the cacal appendages, and of the scales; the other six characters which Dr. Giinther considers trustworthy in the classifi- cation of the Salmonide are not so applicable in the present instance. A tabular view, moreover, may be more readily appreciated ; hence I place in series the formulze appertaining to true Salmon, our two specimens, and such forms as are the most likely to have been intro- duced into the Gardens and mistaken for Salmon. The formule are * See ‘ The Field,’ June 13, 1868. + Through Mr. Tegetmeier’s interest, the proprietors of ‘The Field’ have kindly permitted me the use of their woodcuts illustrating the phenomenon here cited (see p. 35). 1870.] IN THE GROWTH OF SALMON. 37 taken from Dr. Giinther’s catalogue; but the upper and lower trans- verse or oblique series of scales are expressed here in separate columns, and the numbers within brackets are extremes incidentally noted in his description of typical specimens in the collection. Taste A. Scales. Verte- ig ain te Transy. series. Beco: immediately | Dorsal fin | Lateral line above lat. line. | to Jat. line |to ventral fin (obliquely). | (obliquely). Salmoisalar 2. sesses~-scsqertecasveses 59 53-70 120 22-26 19-22 —— — ?, Zool. Soc. spec. No.1.) 59 48-50 120-122 19 (21?) 18 — —?, Zool. Soc.spec. No.2.) 60 | ese 120 Pie ee wea et cor. Peat TGR Es GESTS ih Ree: 59-60 | [46] 49-61 |120[117] 24-26[30] [36-34 [22] —cambricus . 59 39-47 120-125[117-130]|27 [25-28] |38-40[20-24] — fario gaimardii .........00000. 59-60 | 33-46 120 [124] 27-30 [26] [22] Se eit Eee 57-58 | 38-47[51] |120[117-127] |26-80 [23-31] [21-27] — carpio (Lake Garda) .........). .....- 40-50 POS Pee VAR AR Sent. MiP aed — remanus (Lake Geneya)...... 57-59 | 45-52 115-128 26-28-36 = || seeeee — rapii (Lake Constance) ...... 59-60 | 48-54 120 Bimoe — ae A ees —— lacustris (Lake Constance)...| 60-61 | 60-61 120 26-0 LL oe Oe Tested by the number of vertebree, the doubtful specimens in question may either be S. salar or any other of the species enume- rated, excepting S. fario ausonit. The numerical excess or diminution of the pyloric appendages points in the present case to the probability that the two fish are not Salmon. The numbers 48-50 are considerably below the minimum of S. salar, but come within the range of the Central-European Lake Salmonoids—to wit, the four last mentioned in the table; likewise S. trutta. One of the most constant characters is said by Dr. Ginther to be the size and consequently relative numbers of the scales. In our specimens the horizontal series of these, 120-122, does not exclude the notion of their being Salmon ; neither does it show if they are, or are not, specifically separate. The numbers, however, do not tally with the minimum or maximum of several of the species (vide Table A), and in this rather agree than otherwise with S. salar. Of the transverse or, rather, somewhat oblique series of scales superior to the longitudinal medio-lateral line, and counted in a row from the dorsal fin to the said lateral line, one specimen (that desig- nated No. 1, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 251) possesses nineteen, possibly more, as shall presently be explained; the other specimen (No, 2, J. ¢.) twenty-two. The latter number is given by Dr. Giinther as the nu- merical minimum of S. salar; the former falls three short of it. Hence, as regards this differentiating character, No. 1 apparently 38 DR. J. MURIE ON IRREGULARITY [Jan. 13, isnot a Salmon. It must be borne in mind, moreover, that in my previous communication I stated that the number of scales counted in the specimen was not rigidly accurate, those given as transversely inclined to the long axis of the body being decidedly under rather than above the precise amount. I say so advisedly ; for on reexa- mining specimen No. 1, and taking a linear row of scales slightly in advance of the point previously chosen, and therefore more in ac- cordance with Giinther’s plane of obliquity, I find that twenty-one or twenty-two (?) are definable. But howsoever this may be, the penultimate column to the right of the table here given (p. 37) conclusively demonstrates that, even in limited numbers of scales, the dubious specimens in question agree less with the undernoted species of Salmo than with S. salar. Lastly, this remark applies with still greater force to the scales counted linearly from the lateral line to the ventral fin, with the proviso that those of the lake fishes of mid-Europe are unrecorded. II. Uncertainty of the species.—Upon this point it need only be said that, if not Salmo salar, it is most remarkable, and fatally telling to the denial of parentage, that the fish correspond to none of the European types, either in size, markings, or other distinguishing characteristics. Had therefore a mistake happened as to the recog- nition of the ova, this would have ultimately rectified itself in the development of the specific characters applicable to adult piscine form. Ill. The question of hybridity—As respects hybridity, which Dr. Giinther suggests may-be the case with those specimens reared in the Gardens, it becomes rather an important item of deliberation. On what grounds can it be assumed we have hybrid fish to deal with, granting, for the time being, no set line of demarcation proving their identity with a single specific form can be given? 1. The produce of different species may have been fertilized at the Rhine fish-hatching establishment. 2. Instances of hybrids among certain of the Salmonidee are stated to be of no uncommon occurrence. 3. Our specimens possess resemblances to none of the well-esta- blished forms, but have appearances indicating intermediate origin. As experiments prove, the fertilization of the ova of one piscine form with the milt of another distinct species is beyond controversy exemplified in hybrids between the Salmon and the Trout. It is needless therefore to shirk the reasonable contingency of inter- mixture of breed having accidentally or intentionally supervened. Against such a circumstance it can be advanced that, so far as is known, the authorities at Huningue did not with intent form a cross breed and transmit the impregnated ova of such to this country as pure Salmo salar. Moreover, to the practised eyes of Buckland and Bartlett, the ova were those of Salmon; and the period of hatching coincided with that of that fish rather than with that of the Great-Lake Trout, Charr, Salmon-trout, or Common Trout, received in the beginning of the same year, 1863. This fact also tends adversely to the presumption of accidental hybridity. 1870. ] IN THE GROWTH OF SALMON. 39 Dr. Giinther himself professes to have been sceptical concerning hybrid Salmonoids under natural conditions, until convinced, through the Rev. Augustus Morgan, of a cross between the Sewin (S. cambri- cus) and the River-trout (S. fario)*. It is said “These hybrids are so numerous in the Rhymney and other rivers of South Wales, and so variable in their characters, that the passage from one species to the other may be demonstrated in an almost unbroken series, which might induce some naturalists to regard both species as identical.” They retain the migratory impulse seawards, and are sexually developed in the autumn,—when young, are like Trout—when older, Sewin. On their first ascent from the sea they are slightly smaller, but closely resemble Sewin. On their second migratory return they are darker and redder than either supposed parent. These equivocal hybrids, W. Peel, Esq., of Taliaris Park, retained for years in a freshwater pond, where they grew from 15 to 18 inches long, but remained sterile. Males pre- ponderate. It is not stated precisely on what evidence these fishes claim hybri- dity, more than that they bear resemblances to both species. Indeed, from Dr. Giinther’s own descriptions, the Sewin characters prepon- derate. If, therefore, Siebold’s observations, checked by Widegren’s subsequent data (viz. that some individuals of every Salmonoid species are very late in being sexually developed, or have as it werea longer temporary immaturity, and during such period differ from those normally developed), be applied to this instance of hybridism, it may on such grounds be maintained that the said hybrids are after all nothing but retarded examples of S. cambricus. Taken in this light, these so-called hybrids offer coincident ana- logies to the retarded conditions assumed to occur in S. salar, and notably in those two specimens which have formed the basis of the- present paper. It seems to me also a legitimate inference that the two fishes reared in our aquarium are Salmon, inasmuch as they differ in a far greater degree from all other European species than from S.salar. Indeed, as 1s broadly admitted in the British-Museum Catalogue, p. 3, of the genus Salmo, “The almost infinite variations of these fishes are dependent on age, sex and sexual development, food, and the pro- perties of the water ;” hence this very same reasoning which de- monstrates peculiarities in the two Salmonoids and brood in question, logically points to their immaturity, retardation, or masking of the normal adult characters of the species. If their entire growth has been prejudicially influenced by continuous retention in fresh water, so may a defect or abnormal number of scales (two transversely) and pyloric appendages (three or four) be but the concomitant effect of unnatural development. Suppose, again, our oft-quoted Garden specimens were a cross breed between any two well-known species, freshwater or marine, there remains still a wide loophole of doubt why they have remained so very small-sized. No European species whatever, to my know- * See B. M. Cat. of Fishes, vol. vi: p. 8. 40 DR. J. MURIE ON IRREGULARITY [Jan. 13, ledge, are so stunted when full-grown. Thus it follows that either lessened dimension is a result of hybridity, or the two specimens a distinct species per se. In a conversation with my colleague Mr. Bartlett concerning this same question of hybridism and the size of the offspring, I received such information, based on his long experience among animals, that I think it worthy of incorporation in the present paper. From it some hints applicable to fish may be derived, or at least borne in mind, in discussing piscine forms. His proposition is, ‘That among all hybrids of vertebrated ani- mals there is a marked increase of size.’ In no instance coming under his observation has the offspring been smaller than both its parents. In other words, it is always larger than the lesser-sized parent ; that is, supposing inequality of dimensions between the parents to exist. Among Mammals the following examples may be cited :— 1, Hybrids between Horse and Ass; 2, the Common Zebra and Common Ass; 3, Burchell’s Zebra and the Common Ass; 4, the Wild Ass (Equus onager) and the Zebra; 5, the Bactrian and Com- mon Camel; 6, the Alpaca and Llama; 7, the Yak and Zebu; 8, the Barbary and Red Deer; 9, the Rhesus and Bonnet Monkey; 10, the Black-fronted and Yellow-cheeked Lemurs (L. nigrifrons and L. xanthomystax) ; 11, Bennett’s and the Rufous Kangaroo (Hal- maturus bennettit and H. ruficollis). Among Birds :— 12. Hybrids between the Common Canary and the following, viz. the Greenfinch, the Goldfinch, the Linnet, and the Siskin. 13. Among the Galinaceous Birds, hybrids between the Com- mon Pheasant and the Silver Pheasant, the Gold Pheasant and the Bar-tailed Pheasant; also hybrids between the Common Pheasant and the Common Fowl, the Guinea-fowl and the Black Grouse. 14. Hybrids between the Black Cock and the Wood-grouse ; in this case the offspring is termed Tetrao medius because of the con- stancy of this very peculiarity as regards size. 15. Of Struthious Birds one cross only has come under Mr. Bartlett’s notice, namely a hybrid between the Great-billed and the Common Rhea. Curiously enough, this offspring was larger than either of the parents. 16. Among Waterfowl a very large number might be adduced as evidence ; but the subjoined may suffice :— Hybrids between the Common Goose and the Chinese species, the Canada, the White- fronted, and the Barnacle Goose (indeed cross breeds amongst va- rious sorts of Domestic and Wild Geese have many times been observed by him) ; hybrids between the Common Wild Duck, the Wigeon, the Pintail, the Teal, and the Muscovy Duck. These and other instances of Waterfowl have frequently come under his notice ; and in all cases the afore-mentioned law applies. As respects fishes, authentic observations upon hybrid progeny are meagre ; but I may quote some experiments made at Stormontfield. In November and December 1857 provision was made for hatching 1870. ] IN THE GROWTH OF SALMON. 41 in separate compartments the artificially impregnated ova of :—1, Parr and Salmon ; 2, Grilse and Salmon; 3, Grilse pure; 4, Salmon pure. It was found, when the young of these different matches came to be examined early (in April 1859), that the size of each kind varied alittle, Mr. Buist*, Superintendent of Fisheries, informing us that :—1st, the produce of Salmon with Salmon are 4 in. in length ; 2nd, Grilse with Salmon 34 in.; 3rd, Grilse with Grilse 33 in.; 4th, Parr with Grilse 3 in.; 5th, Smolt from large pond 5 in.” Unfortunately these experiments do not apply to the instance in point, hybridity ; but they show that intercrossing between the, so to speak, imperfect form though sexually developed fish and the mature individual gives rise to diminished offspring ; whereas two mature specimens produce young which, at least in their earlier stage, are of larger growth. The result, though seemingly dispara- ging to what Mr. Bartlett has stated of mammals and birds, is in reality not against it; for his remarks have reference to the adult hybrid and not to the juvenile condition. ADDENDA. Whilst I have freely used data tendered by friends, it is right for me frankly to state they do not concur in the sum total of my de- ductions ; for these therefore I am alone responsible. It gives me pleasure, though, to make known some of their views, as evincing both concord and disagreement with those held by myself. The following is a report of a statement by Mr. Buckland, which I immediately wrote out and obtained full liberty to publish. ** Salmon-ova are generally deposited from the middle of December until the middle of January. ** Young fish of the first year may be observed in the spawning- streams about May. In July and August they are as big as Min- nows. The mothers risk their own lives for the safety of their progeny ; they make every effort to get to places where food is abun- dant for their young. Some of those hatched, say, at Christmas put on the Smolt coat in the following spring; but the great ma- jority of these young fish do not go to the sea till the spring of what may be considered their second year. They have then attained the dimensions of a Sprat. “If a shoal of Smolts be examined whilst they are passing down, some will be seen to be only of the size of Minnows, whereas others will be quite as large as Sprats ; the little ones are those of the first year’s brood, the big ones of the second year’s series. ‘Some Smolts remain to the third year; but these differ very much from their brethren, their residence in the fresh water giving them quite a Trout-like appearance. These latter are found as long as 5 or 6 inches, and are called ‘Heppers’ in the west of England. They are beautiful fish, with well-developed Parr-markings, and much more common in the west of England than in the north of England. It is possible that these ‘ Heppers’ remain in the upper * A writer in the ‘Illustrated London News,’ April 19, 1862. 42 DR. J. MURIE ON IRREGULARITY (Jan. 13, waters because no suitable floods occur for them to come down; and hence they are obliged to stay an extra year in fresh water. It may be that these fancy Parr-markings are a provision of nature for concealment when in the young state. «There is good evidence of a second migration of Smolts in the month of September. This is quite a new fact; but Mr. Buckland is fully inclined to believe it, because he is of opinion that as yet no universal law can be defined as respects migration of Salmon. “« Nature seems to anticipate the deaths of a large number during their migratory ascent and descent, so that a Salmon river, like Jacob’s ladder, has fish most months of the year, some going up and others going down. If nature sent all the Smolts of the first year into the sea in the spring of the second year, some accident might happen and all be destroyed. «Tt happens instead that the crop of full-grown Salmon becomes due about the fifth year from those reared in the first year; thus a certain number are always coming into condition. « As respects the return of Grilse, these are equivalent or pro rata to the descent of the Smolts. It is not at all a likely circumstance, from what is known of the return numbers, that the large quantities which as Smolts arrive in the sea in the spring of the second year will ascend in July and August of the same year. But there can be no question that they sometimes do so, if Sir William Jardine’s remarks on Salmonidee be consulted. “ Furthermore, it is a curious circumstance that in 1867 no Grilse came back from the sea throughout the entire United Kingdom. Concerning this fact a consultation was held at Mr. Buckland’s rooms, and among those present were several experienced Scottish netters. The opinions expressed were very diverse, and may be arranged numerically thus :— «1, Some held that the fish had never been hatched. «2. Some concluded they never went down. «3. Others believed the fish were all destroyed in the sea. «4, Others conceived that the deficiency of return Grilse was caused by an unusual natural phenomenon unknown to man, yet wide-spread. «5, Several parties expressed themselves that the fish would re- turn early in the summer and autumn of 1869; and, strange to say, they did come back in enormous numbers at the time specified. Indeed the Irish fisheries in 1869 have far surpassed most of the previous seasons, and particularly in the vast preponderance of Grilse compared with Salmon. Some of the Grilse were large; but the majority were not much, if any, larger than their ordinary dimen- sions. “In estimating the value of a Salmon-fishery, the calculation ought to be based upon an epoch of five years, or a quinquennial period. A generation of men is counted by thirty years; so in like manner a generation of Salmon ought to be estimated at five years. Some say, however, nine years ; but the law of probability is rather in favour of five years. 1870.] IN THE GROWTH OF SALMON. 43 “The term arrest of development of the Smolt, Mr. Buckland thinks, is not a scientific term. Nature has ordained that the fish should not grow more than a certain size in fresh water; that is to say, there is a maximum of growth and size in the Smolt. The transmutation of the Smolt into a Salmon takes place in the sea. Here, for the first time, we find that wonderful provision (which Mr. Buckland lays great stress on), the storing of fat on the pyloric appendages. Smolts have no fat on the pyloric appendages; but Grilse have. Non-migratory Salmonidee have no pyloric fat; but Sea-trout possess it. “The reason why Smolts will never become Salmon in fresh water has some relation to this development into the superior from the inferior stage of organization. This stage is not necessary for life. Salmon will live a long time in fresh water in the inferior condition, yet never pass over the line of demarcation between the two stages, unless conditions for the perfection of the secondary form be present. This is shown in the fact that nature actually orders a new coat for the creature when it passes from the one condition of things to the other. “If the migratory instinct is impeded by human intervention, the dress assumed at such times disappears, and the fish (by a happy provision of Providence) continues to wear its Parr-coat, which, as the fish gets bigger, becomes increased in intensity. The ‘Heppers’ already spoken of exemplify this. “The arrest of development is a term, therefore, which can only strictly be applied to Salmon in the sea, inasmuch as the arrest is simply the first natural stage of the progressive series of growths. Such stages of Salmon-growth have a parallel in the changes of insect-form: thus egg =ovum, caterpillar =parr, chry- salis =Smolt, and the butterfly =Salmon, may be said to be the analogous stages whereby insect and Salmon pass from the imperfect to the perfect condition.” Among what I have classed as addenda comes, as undernoted, a Table of dimensions (B). In the first notice (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 253) I was only able to give in detail those of specimen No. 1; but No. 2 has died since, and thus permitted its linear measurements to be taken. I have placed alongside these five other specimens, four of which are nearly similar in length, and the other that of a full-grown fish. These are specimens described individually by Dr. Giinther in his Catalogue, and have been chosen by me to illustrate the proportional sizes and relations of the parts of the body to each other in an immature Salmon, a Sewin, a quasi-hybrid, a 8. nigri- pinnis, and a fully developed 8. salar. As the fractions used in the Catalogue are chiefly given in fourths, eighths, and sixteenths of an inch, I have converted these into decimals, enabling comparison between my two specimens and them more readily to be drawn therefrom. Columns I. and II. relate to the Society’s specimens, described in the previous paper. Column III. relates to a young male Salmon (Parr), from the 44 DR. J. MURIE ON IRREGULARITY [Jan. 13, Kulder (a rocky mountain-stream joining the river Tyne, in North- umberland), with the testicles fully developed. Column IV. to a Sewin, or Bull Trout (S. cambricus) from the Rhymney. A male in the Smolt state, before going down the sea. Column V. gives the admeasurements of one of the so-called hybrids between the Sewin (8. cambricus) and the River-trout (S. fario). ‘A young female from the Towey, caught in the month of August.” Column VI. gives those of a male specimen of the S. nigripinnis, with testicles well developed. “From Llyn Gadr, caught in the month of August.” Column VII. gives those of a perfect-conditioned male Salmon from the river Tweed. TABLE B. I. Il. Ill. Iv. v. VI. vil. iS} ) ao | gms ier) acd B Ole ol EY ee | a | ee ee @ O19 .o/ Sl agiga| Sa] sa STAiST A] Se | Qe | ee | Se] SH se adbeast cht BC BSc eae a) ga | 28 | "2 | Se | ae NIN == P= = Wel R= fib pe y= in. in. in. in. in. in. in. Motallengeth vec. ccteeseessdeces 65 | 76 | 65 | 687 | 7:50] 8:00 | 46:0 Greatest depth of body ...... ee 1:2 1-43 | 1:37 | 1:50 | 1:62 | 11:50 Length of the head ............ 14 1:2 1:57 | 1:43 | 1:56 |) 1°75 | 10°50 Least depth of tail ............ se 0:6 0:56 | 0°56 | 062 | O75 | 3:33 Distance from end of snout to BV.Oeb ae tlesyoee.aheee enn 03 | 0-45 | 0:37 | 0°37 | 0°37 | 0:37 | 450 Length of maxillary bone...... 06 | 0°75 | 0-43 | 056 | 062) 0°75 | 3:75 Distance between eye and prx- opercular angle............... 05 | 037 | 0:50 | 0:50 | 0:62] 3:33 Greatest width of operculum.. 0-4 | 0:37 | 0:37 | 037 | 037 | 2:12 Greatest depth of operculum.. 075 | 0-43 | 0:50 | 050} 056} 30 Distance between occiput and origin of dorsal fin ......... 1:75 | 1:62] 1:87 | 1°75 | 1:87 | 14:0 Distance between end of dorsal and root of caudal fin ...... ... | 240} 2:06 | 2:31 | 25 | 2:87 | 15:0 Length, base of dorsal ,.,......} 0-9 0-85 | 0:75 | 0°75 | 0°75 | O87 | 466 Greatest height of dorsal ......!_ 1-2 ee 087 | O81 | 1:00} 1:12] 450 Length of pectoral ............ 1:2 13 | 1:25 | 1:00} 1:25) 1:37) 5:50 Distance between roots of pec- toral and ventral ............ 16 1:8 1:62 | 1:87 | 2:00 | 2:00 | 12:5 Length of ventral fin ....,.... 09 | 0-87 | 0-75 | 087 | 112) 466 Distance between root of ven- tral and origin of anal...... 1:2 | 1:15) 10 | 1:00] 137] 1:37 | 105 Length of the anal ............ 08 | O8 | 056} 0-43] 056 | 062] 3:33 Length of longest caudal ray.. isi 1:06 | 0:87 | 1:12 | 1:25 6:00 Length of middle caudal ray.. 0°55 | 0°43 | 0°56 | 056 | 062 Between the Society’s two specimens there is a close agreement, the head of No. 1, however, being proportionally and absolutely the longest. The Parr (III.) corresponds to both, the main disagree- 1870.] IN THE GROWTH OF SALMON. 45 ment being in the less depth of the operculum, and smaller size of the dorsal and anal fins. The Sewin, excepting in a smaller ventral fin, is almost inter- mediate between the three foregoing. The hybrid (?) varies in proportional dimensions little from the preceding; the head may be considered a trifle longer than in them, as also the distance betwixt the dorsal and caudal fins, betwixt the pectoral and ventral fins, and betwixt the ventral and anal. Considering that the speci- men of S. nigripinnis is a shade larger fish, its admeasurements wonderfully harmonize with the five already mentioned. What, therefore, appears to be elicited is that, pari passu, the fishes No. 1 and No. 2, fully four and five years old respectively, are almost identical in the relative proportions of their bodies with what may be assumed much younger Parr, Sewin Smolt, hybrid Sewin, and the so-called S. nigripinnis. Taking column VII. into consideration, and contrasting it with III., the relative growths of the several parts of the Salmon’s body to each other (from the Parr to the adult condition) are proved to be unequal in ratio. The total lengthening of the body, in the instances cited, is =7 times. The depth of the body increases x8. The head elongates X7°6. The least depth of the tail has an increment = x59. The distance from the end of the snout to the eye enlarges x 121 times, or in the male the anterior segment of the face is proportionally excessively developed, a fact not at variance with the proportion between adult male and female Salmon. The maxillary bone grows in length x 8°7._ The distance between the eye and the opercular angle increases nine times from the Parr to the adult stage asa Salmon. The operculum widens x 5-7, and its depth becomes =x/7. Betwixt the occiput and the dorsal fin the intervening space lengthens by x8*7, and that betwixt the dorsal and caudal fin 7°2 times. The elongation basally of the dorsal fin is = x 6:2, and its height = x51. The pectoral fin lengthens x 4-4; but the increase of distance between the roots of the pectoral and ventral fins is = X7*7. The elongation of the ventral fin proceeds to x 5°3 times, whereas the distance between the root of the ventral and the origin of the anal fin becomes = x 10°5. The anal fin grows 5:9 times as long, the longest caudal ray x 5:6. The above data are of course only approximate, as from the comparison of only two specimens it would be unfair to draw con- clusive deductions ; but, taken for what they are worth, computation gives the following general results :— 1. The average measurements of the development of the body, head, occiput to dorsal fin, dorsal to caudal, and pectoral to ventral fins are as 7°44 to 1. The amount of divergence between the ventral and anal fins, 10-5 to 1, is much greater than the foregoing maximum and mini- mum, an anomaly possibly dependent on sex. 2. The ratio of increase of the maxillary and the eye to that of the operculum averages 8°85 to 1. 3. The average elongation of the fins is as 5°26 to 1. 46 DR. J. MURIE ON IRREGULARITY [Jan. 13, 4, The depth of the body and root of tail differ as regards aug- mentation, the former being as 8 to 1, the latter as 5°9 to 1. 5. Between the width and depth of the operculum, respectively 5:7 and 7 to 1, the horizontal to vertical increase is inversely to what obtains in the body. Availing one’s self of these considerations, and comparing speci- mens I. and II. with III. (Table B), it will be seen, more especially in the older fish, II., that the maxillary bone and distance from snout to eye are proportionally larger than in the Parr. The same may be said as regards growth of the operculum, more particularly its depth. The distance between the ventral and anal fins is also sensibly greater. Thus those parts which in the adult, ceteris pari- bus, show the greatest relative accretion are, curiously enough, in the Salmonoids reared in fresh water, the parts which have most incre- ment. From this it follows that whilst a general arrest of develop- ment, retardation of growth, or whatsoever the term used, has oc- curred from the altered physical circumstances, still the proportional magnitude of the parts has kept pace with that of a normally deve- loped adult Salmon favoured by visits to the sea. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. The main fact at issue—Can Salmo salar live for series of years in fresh water without access to the sea ?—if not settled beyond cavil, has, I venture to think, in this and the preceding paper, been tole- rably well substantiated. At least the evidence of many observers has been given; so that it remains for those who discountenance the view to show the fallacy of the data, and prove on evidence as reliable that the contrary is the true state of the case. This does not interfere with the necessity of further experiments being tried. For my own part, I am quite willing to bow acknowledgment to which- ever side the truth lies on—though, after an impartial consideration, I cannot escape or reason away the strong presumptive allegations positively confirming the opinion. To me they are reasonable, be- cause based on what, in homely parlance, are deemed everyday occur- rences. The principle in the life-history of the Salmon which seems at variance with its customary habits is in reality not so; what takes place as a general rule is here but temporarily departed from. In the physical constitution of animals, the limits assigned to the well- being of the individual are not so rigidly exact as a mathematical problem ; hence, to judge rightly, we must know all, or be prepared to confute abnormal phases of existence. In the present instance the choice of credence lies between testimony harmonious with laws regulating the primary growth of Salmon, and suppositions framed on circumstances we have but an imperfect knowledge of, unless it be satisfactorily shown that the statements of such a truthful ob- server as Yarrell, or the instance recorded by Anderson, are fictitious or egregiously false. Those who deny that some Salmon, few or many, can permanently accommodate themselves to a freshwater residence for a comparatively 1870.] IN THE GROWTH OF SALMON. 47 long period, seem to have lost sight of the value of several important points and consequent deductions. 1. That, in the natural condition, Salmon-fry do not all attain vigorous adolescence at the same period ; still more so is their irre- gularity as regards perfect maturity. 2. That the periodical accession of the migratory impulse does not affect all alike, either as to time or season. 3. That those which do remain behind in the rivers for two seasons or more grow, relatively speaking, no larger than their juniors in age. 4. That the very fact of their abnormal retarded growth may account for several peculiarities as to organization, which divergence from the type has been put down to specific difference or hybridity. 5. That the admission of the uncertainty of the species (reared in the Gardens) strengthens the presumption of their being S. salar, when it has been demonstrated that their characteristic affinities are closer to that than to any other form. 6. That the belief in the hybridity of Salmonoids under natural conditions is, as yet, based on data less stable than the assertion that Salmon can abide long in fresh water: hence such an argument presents feeble opposition. 7. That not only does an occasional lengthened stay in fresh water accord with known habits, but, inversely, a more than ordinary protracted stay in sea-water occurs at times. In the instance men- tioned (anted, p. 42), the majority of the return Grilse had grown no larger than those sojourning only a few months in the salt-water. This circumstance tells weightily in support of a temporary cessation of growth happening equally when Salmon dwell longer than the normal period either in the river or the sea. 8. That the fact of Salmon periodically tenanting sea and stream does not absolutely enforce migration under immediate penalty of death. The bodily improvement consequent on the change, how- ever, is tantamount to its being needful to their ample development ; ergo, causes checking the migratory impulse are coincident with the abeyance of growth. 9. That marine fish, other than migratory Salmonoids, have sur- vived freshwater confinement. 10. That numerous instances can be adduced showing that fish of several sorts remain relatively feeble or thrive vigorously, according to limited space and nourishing food being withheld or granted to them. Salmon offer no exception. 1]. That in well-attested cases fish confined to tanks are predis- posed to variability—this notably in the Cyprinide, which present no very distant family relationship to the Salmonidee, whence it may be assumed that such phenomena in the latter would be likely to supervene. 12. That in animals which exhibit peculiar phases of transforma- tion or rapid changes at epochs of their life, exemplified in some Echinodermata and Insecta among invertebrates, and certain Batra- chia* among vertebrates, physical agents play an important part in * Vide Higginbottom’s experiments (Phil. Trans. 1850, p. 434, pl. 32). 48 DR. J. MURIE ON IRREGULARITY [Jan. 13, the retardation or hastening of development. So, therefore, tempo- rary arrest of growth in Salmonoids is but an expression of the same law ; and it is worthy of special note that Salmon-ova preserved in ice are hatched later than when placed in a more suitable tem- perature. 13. That the proportional growth of head to body &c. of Sal- monoids confined in fresh waters bears a diminished, though steady, ratio to that between Parr and adult Salmon. Thus it would seem that the same disposition as to the growth of parts is manifest, but antagonized or hampered by the unnatural conditions extant. 14. That solid evidence is published of sexually mature male Sal- monParr being frequently met with in natural conditions. Experimen- tally, milt from such has impregnated Grilse-ova, the brood resulting showing diminution of early growth compared with Salmon-milt and ova, Grilse with Salmon, and Grilse with Grilse. It may be con- jectured, therefore, that the produce of the former parents would be much more likely to evince variation as regards development and migratory instinct than would fry derived from full-formed fish. 15. That such legitimate though unequal unions should perad- venture happen, may very plausibly be assumed to be the case, rather than that hybridism between specifically different forms, spawning at separate dates, does often ensue. The above fifteen points, even when sifted and divested of extrane- ous remarks and unguarded assertions, still form a compendium which materially urges the following convictions :—(a) That though as a rule Salmon necessarily spend periods of their life in sea-water, circumstances may conduce to this being postponed temporarily or indefinitely. (j3) That a very appreciable arrest of growth is the consequence where retention to a limited area of water obtains. I leave it as an open question, whether S. salar may not vigorously grow aud multiply in extensive lakes and running streams, though, I may add, the preceding convictions prepare the mind for that belief. Respecting the term ‘arrest of development,” which my friend Mr. Buckland holds can only significantly be applied to a Sea-salmon, and in itself is not scientifie, I entirely disagree with him. I grant the phrase is one seldom if ever used by ichthyologists or in practical natural history ; but in pathological anatomy, and the kindred subject of malformations or teratology, it isof greatimport. The celebrated Russian embryologist Wolff suggested the term, and the no less famous comparative anatomist J. F. Meckel followed, and first used the expression ( Bildungshemmung) commonly adopted by succeeding writers on malformations—a sufficient guarantee for its scientific accuracy. The dwarf formation, abnormal diminutiveness, or retardation of growth that affects the Salmon in question is essentially due to a congenital or acquired arrest in the growth or development of the organs or system generally. Growth may be checked either in the embryo condition or subsequently to birth ; and the latter appears to be the case with the fish under immediate consideration. That is 1870. ] IN THE GROWTH OF SALMON. 49 to say, after the fry have reached a certain grade of maturity and bulk, causes (nature of food and retention in a limited volume of fresh water) induce malnutrition or derangement of nutrition, hin- dering normal growth. Had the Salmonoids gone to the sea and re- turned stunted, the term “arrest”’ would still be partially applicable, inasmuch as normal evolution from the embryonic to the full-formed animal would have been interfered with, or remained stationary short of completion. The phrase would be equally a happy one, viewing the development of Salmon as a series of stages of progressive growth, as Mr. Buckland puts it; for as some physiologists limit “‘ growth” solely to increase of size, and ‘‘ development”? to structural change*, the idea of progressive advance in the Salmon would sanction the ‘arrest of development”’ as a most suitable term. Should future researches support the facts and views it has herein been endeavoured to establish, obviously many species at present adopted in the nomenclature of the genus Salmo may require ma- terial modification. For doubtless it would follow that the same fish, under different grades and shades of development, has been distinctly and separately named, as, indeed, H. Widegrent has already attempted to show, and has partly been supported and opposed by Malmgrent and Giinther. The geographical distribution of the group as now understood might need revision. It would likewise strike at the root of living transitionary species, and be the clue whereby a path through the labyrinthine variations of the Salmonidze would lead to a better knowledge and study of the group. Assumed hybridity of Salmonoids must necessarily require a much broader body of evidence, and more vigorous scrutiny of data, than has hitherto been accorded it. Although it may be said that fish-spawn presents far greater accessibility to the fecundating influence of the milt of a different species than does the union of the germinal products of higher Vertebrata, still the line of demarcation must rest sharply somewhere; otherwise no such thing as specific identity would be recognizable in the produce; instead of hybrids being rare, or in the minority, as now obtains, they would soon be in overwhelming majority, and reduce the present faint distinctions of the Salmonidz to a chaos. On the other hand, can it be that in this variability from a com- mon stock we have tracings of the elimination of natural species ? Has the inherent organization, permitting some individuals to survive changed conditions, alone the utility of preserving the race, or does it carry with it the elements of structural variety, whereby ultimate scission from the primary type is effected ? There are not wanting able defenders of views of an entirely oppo- site character; but in whatever direction the opinion leads, the force * See some pertinent remarks thereon in Darwin’s ‘Animals and Plants under Domestication,’ vol. ii. p. 389. + Gfvers. Vetensk. Akad. Forhandl. 1863. { Kritisk Gifversigt af Finlands Fisk-Fauna: Helsingsfors, 1863. Translated, Wiegm. Archiv, 1864, and reviewed, Record of Zool. Lit. 1864, p. 178, by Giinther. Proc. Zooxt Soc.—1870, No. IV. 50 ON IRREGULARITY IN THE GROWTH OF SALMON. [Jan. 13, of Professor Agassiz’s * expressions (himself adverse to the transmuta- tion theory) cannot be denied. In treating of the relations between animals and plants and the surrounding world, he says, ‘ And yet, without a thorough knowledge of the habits of animals, it will never be possible to ascertain with any degree of precision the true limits of all those species which descriptive zoologists have of late admitted with so much confidence into their works. And, after all, what does it matter to science that thousands of species, more or less, should be described and entered into our systems if we know nothing about them!” . . .‘*Then we may learn with more precision how far the species described from isolated specimens are founded in nature, or how far they are only a particular stage of growth of other species ; then we shall know, what is yet too little noticed, how extensive the range of variation is among animals observed in their wild state, or rather, how much individuality there is in each and all living beings.” No decided answer can be given to the questions at issue while so much of the commoner facts in the life-history of the Salmonidee are conjectural. Every scrap of information based on accurate ob- servations is needed to unravel the phenomena, whether dependent on reasons physiological or physical, teleological or pangenetical. EXPLANATION OF PLATE II. Ntustrations of the variable growth of Salmonoids in tanks of fresh water. Fig. 1. Young of the Great-Lake Trout (Salmo lacustris?), being one among others reared from a batch of ova from Huningue, near Basle, and presented to the Society by Mr. Frank Buckland, 9th or 10th March, 1869. The specimen was nine months old, haying been hatched about the middle of March; and the drawing was taken immediately after death, on the 15th December, 1869, natural size, 7. e. 3°3 inches long. A few of the same brood were somewhat larger, others smaller. Fig. 2. A young Salmon (?) from Rhine ova, received as above. Length 1-95 inch ; natural dimensions: sketched 14th December, 1869. Fig. 3. Another specimen of the same batch of Salmon (?), and corresponding to fig, 2 in age, viz. about 9 months. Natural size, =2°7 inches, and, as in fig. 1, figured immediately after death. The brackets, respectively lettered a, 6, between the preceding figures, indicate the length (3:1 inches) of one of nine good-sized specimens of the same brood of Salmon (?), which died on the 6th October, or some- where betwixt 6 and 7 months old. Had they lived until the middle of December, doubtless they would have grown as large as the Great- Lake Trout here represented. Fig. 4. Salmon (?) from Rhine ova, fully 2 years old, which, like the above, was reared and retained in the Society’s freshwater aquarium at the Re- gent’s Park. Hatched February 1866, died 14th April, 1868. The figure, natural size and colour, taken immediately after death, shows the assumption of the silvery Smolt-coat, indicative of the mi- gratory impulse. * An Essay on Classification (London, 1859), pp. 85, 86. 1870.] MR. SCLATER ON TAPIRUS ROULINI. 51 January 27, 1870. Professor Newton, V.P., in the Chair. Mr. Sclater read extracts from several letters addressed to him by Mr. Robert B. White, C.M.Z.S., concerning the Hairy Tapir (Zapi- rus roulini*), specimens of which Mr. White was endeavouring to procure for the Society’s Menagerie. In a letter dated Popayan, 8th June, 1869, Mr. White wrote as follows :— “During the past two months I have been several times on the central Cordillera, to the Volcano of Puracé and elsewhere, and have thought that it would be highly interesting to the Society to get specimens of the Tapir which is found there. Boussingault speaks of it, 1 think; but owing to the stupidity of the natives, the tales told about the animal are so absurd as to throw discredit on its ex- istence. They are very shy, and I have not been able to get near them, but have seen them at a distance of half a mile, with a tele- scope, bathing themselves in a small lake. I have also seen the foot- prints, the excrement, and the skins occasionally brought in by the Indians. From this I can say that this Tapir is about the size of the ordinary one, greyish black, with very powerful snout and hoofs. It is never found at a lower elevation than 3500 metres above the sea-level, where the temperature is 6° to 10° Cent., and it exists up to 4200 metres. It would therefore be easy to acclimatize it in Eng- land ; for it constantly freezes in the Cordillera at 4000 metres. These animals are rarely killed, because the skin only sells for about 3s. ; but last week I bought a Bear’s skin from an Indian, who some- times kills Tapirs.” Mr. Sclater remarked that this Tapir was a very rare animal, and that he believed that there was no complete specimen of it in any European collectiont. It appeared to have been first discovered, about 1828, by Dr. Roulin, during his residence at Bogota{, on the Paramos of Quindiu and Suma Paz. A second French naturalist, M. Justin Goudot, who was in New Granada about 1842, had given us some particulars concerning the life and habits of this Tapir in a memoir published in the ‘Comptes Rendus’ of the Academy of Sciences of Paris (vol. xvi. p. 331, 1843). M. Goudot met with the animal at an elevation of from 1400 metres to 4400 metres (being nearly up to the snow-level) on the Peak of Tolima. The only other original authority that mentioned this animal was * The first Latin specific name applied to this Tapir appears to be roulini of Fischer (Syn. Mamm. Add. p. 406), 1829. Wagler’s term v2/losus (Syst. d. Amph. p- 17) is one year later; and the earlier French writers merely call the animal Tapir pinchaque. + [In reply to inquiries, M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards kindly informs me that the collection of the Jardin des Plantes includes only two crania of this Tapir— one obtained by M. Roulin in 1828, and the other by M. Goudot in 1843.— Ly Lise { See Cuyier’s report on M. Roulin’s memoir (Ann. Sci. Nat. xvii. p. 107), and M. Roulin’s memoir itself (Ann. Sci. Nat. xviii. p. 26). 52 PROF. NEWTON ON ZONOTRICHIA ALBICOLLIS. {[Jan. 27, Tschudi, who, however, gave its occurrence in Peru (Faun. Peruan. Mamm. p. 213) from hearsay, not having himself observed it. According to the native reports, it was found in Peru, on the eastern slope of the minor Cordilleras, at an elevation of from 7000 to 8000 feet above the sea-level. Mr. Sclater remarked that the acquisition of a living specimen of this animal would be of great interest to science, and announced that the Council had already placed a sum of money at the disposal of Mr. White for the purpose of making preliminary investigations. In laying before the Meeting a skin of the North-American Zono- trichia albicollis, which had been shot near Aberdeen on the 17th of August 1867*, and sent for exhibition by Mr. W. C. Angus of that town, Professor Newton called attention to the practice of many, or most, ornithologists in this country, who are prone to give the name of ‘ British birds’ to all such species as occur from time to time in the United Kingdom. This practice he deemed to be very injudicious, as it tended to confound every correct notion as to the geographical distribution of species—one of the most important subjects with which naturalists had to deal. Without venturing at present to draw a positive line of demarcation, he thought that at any rate those species of birds which confessedly do not breed within the limits of the zoogeographical region in which the British islands lie should on no account be termed “ British,” and that it should be a matter for future deliberation how far the same title might pro- perly be given even to species which certainly do breed within the same limits. Speaking accurately, the term ‘ British’? should be restricted to those species of birds which for a longer or shorter period of the year actually ixhadit the British islands. But Prof. Newton was inclined to think that this rule might be relaxed in the ease of certain European or even North-Asiatic species which, though apparently only chance stragglers, might reasonably be re- garded, in the absence of more complete observations, as occurring much oftener without attracting attention; and added that it was quite possible that some of these, which had been noticed the most frequently, were in fact regular annual visitors to this country. Dr. Cobbold, F.R.S., exhibited specimens of, and made remarks upon, the new Entozoon from the Aard-wolf, described at the last Meeting of the Society, and proposed to be called Acanthocheilonema dracunculoides (vide antea, p. 9). Mr. G. Dawson Rowley, F.Z.S., exhibited, and made the follow- ing remarks upon, a specimen of the Siberian Lark (Alauda sibirica, Gmelin) and other rare British birds :— ‘«T have the pleasure to exhibit to the Society a specimen of the * Vide Proceedings of the Natural-History Society of Glasgow, vol. i. part 1, p. 209, plate. 1870.] PROF. OWEN ON THE EXTINCTION OF DINORNIS. 53 Siberian Lark (Alauda sibirica, Gmelin; the Alauda leucoptera ot Pallas). It was caught near Brighton, November 22, 1869, out of a flock of about two dozen of Hmberiza nivalis, and is a female. This is, as far as I know, the first of this species ever captured in Great Britain. “I also place before the Meeting a Wild Canary (I’ringilla cana- viensis), taken in a clap-net November 20, 1869. How such a bird arrived in this country I cannot say. ‘“‘ The third bird which I have to show is a Lapland Bunting (Zm- beriza calearata). “These three birds are recorded in the January number of the ‘Zoologist’ this year as Fringilla nivalis, Emberiza rustica, and Fringilla citrinella. With the aid of Professor Newton, when we saw the Lark on the Ist of January, I assigned to it its true desig- nation. Various Northern species have lately occurred at Brighton, in addition to Alauda sibirica, such as Emberiza pusilla, Emberiza rustica, Turdus atrigularis, and Pyrrhula erythrina, all of them of considerable interest.” The following papers were read :— 1. Letter on the Discovery of Cooking-pits and Kitchen- middens in Canterbury Settlement, Middle Island, New Zealand. By Dr. Jutrus Haast, F.R.S. Communicated, with Remarks, by Prof. Own, F.R.S., F.Z.S., &e. As most of the information on record respecting Dinornis is to be found in the publications of the Zoological Society of London, I use the liberty given me by my esteemed correspondent Dr. Haast, F.R.S., to submit to the same Society the accompanying letter of October 20th, 1869, received January 8th, 1870 :— “ Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, N. Z., October 26, 1869. “* My pear Proressor Owen,—I have to thank you very much for your kindness in sending me Parts XI. and XII. of your Memoirs on Dinornis, which I received by last mail, and which I have read with great interest. Concerning the age of remains of the Dinornis robustus, described in the first, I have not visited the locality where they were found, but am certain that they must have been buried in very dry sand, because I have no doubt that the species of Dinornis have been extinct many hundreds of years—an opinion which I formed some years ago from the manner of their occurrence, as well as from the fact that the Maories, the present inhabitants of New Zealand, have no traditions about them. Some time ago I sent a paper on some prehistoric remains of New Zealand to Sir Charles Lyell, in which I have treated of the subject. Since then I have been so fortunate as to find a large Moa-hunters’ encampment, with 54 PROF. OWEN ON THE EXTINCTION OF DINORNIS. (Jan. 27, their cooking-places and kitchen-middens, covering more than forty acres, near the mouth of the River Kakaia, where I have made ex- tensive excavations. The results, which I shall publish as soon as some other work which I have in hand will allow me, will be consi- dered not uninteresting, as they give us not only an insight into the habits of a primitive people who hunted (and, I may say, extermi- nated) the Dinornis, but have also brought to light their rough stone implements. These are either pieces of hard sandstone broken off from large boulders in a peculiar manner, or made of flint or, rather, hard siliceous rocks, chipped very roughly, and generally the exact counterpart of those found at Amiens. Some of them are, however, chipped only on one side, the other side being perfectly flat. I have drawings made for publication of some of the most characteristic ones. The cooking-places or ovens are built like those of the Maories, and are now covered by from 6 to 8 inches of silt and vegetable soil. «But what is still more striking is the state in which the Moa bones are found. JI collected from some of the kitchen-middens all the bones, and brought them to Christchurch to sort them; and the result was a very interesting one; in every respect it coincided with that obtained by the excavations at Glenmark. If you will look at the list in the ‘Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute’ (vol.i. p. 89), you will observe that by far the greater number of bones belonged to D. caswarinus (45), the next to D. didiformis (37), and then to D. ecrassus (14). The same proportional occurrence is also found in the case of the kitchen-middens—D. casuarinus pre- dominating, and D. didiformis and D. crassus following in numbers. There are also some bones of D. elephantopus (13) and of a small Palapteryx ingens (belonging to several specimens), but none of D. giganteus and D. robustus. «‘ The leg-bones are all broken, the tibize on both sides near the end, so as to get out the marrow or the contents of the hollow of the bone. At the same time both ends are generally scooped out, so as to suggest at once that the Moa-hunters used a flint flake as a spoon to get the animal eatable matter out of those parts of the bone which were more difficult to break. The middle portion of the tibize is nearly always broken into small fragments; and I found near the kitchen-middens several large flat stones and also others of an oblong form, which had doubtless been used for the purpose of smashing them. Femora and metatarsi of specimens belonging to D. casua- rinus and D. didiformis are partly broken in the centre, partly on both sides; but those of D. crassus and D. elephantopus, owing to their pachydermal form and the narrow hollow inside, are generally only broken in the centre, and in many cases are still intact, as not offering sufficient inducement for taking the trouble. The skulls are invariably scooped out from below to get at- the brain. The pelvic and sternal bones are always in fragmeuts. “‘There were also bones of the native Dog, of Seals, Sea-gulls, and the tympanic bones of several species of Whales amongst them, 1870.] PROF. OWEN ON THE EXTINCTION OF DINORNIS. 55 but no human bones; so that it seems certain that the inhabitants of these islands who hunted the Moa were not cannibals. There were, with the exception of sharp flakes of flint and obsidian, no stone implements which could have been used as weapons for warfare or chase; and I suppose, therefore, that these people manufactured wooden ones for such purposes, and that they caught the birds in pits or snares. I found also some pieces of translucent quartz, rock- crystal, chalcedony, agate, and cornelians, but not the least sign of greenstone or nephrite. It is therefore evident, although the Moa- hunter obtained flint from different and distant parts of this island, and obsidian from the northern island, that the use of the nephrite was not known, and that they had never visited the west coast. «Another proof of the primitive character of this people may be adduced from the total absence of ornaments of any kind made of a substance of permanent character. ‘There were, however, two ulnz of the Albatros, broken in the centre, which had both been neatly bored near the proximal end, and consequently might have been used as amulets or for ornament ; but I hope that further researches will give us a still greater insight into the life of this remarkable prehistoric people. I shall not fail to send more specimens from these kitchen-middens to England, so that you may be able to exa- mine them; and I trust that this preliminary communication will not be without interest to you. Should you consider these notes of sufficient importance to lay before the Geological or any other Society, I shall be very glad if you would do so. «I am expecting very anxiously the result of your examination of the bones sent to Mr. Flower, of which doubtless the British Museum has kept those which were wanted for the completion of the collection. “Your twelfth Memoir, containing the description of bones of D. maximus, was particularly useful to me, because I observed that my No. 18 is not only your D. maximus, but that the three leg-bones of Major Michael belong to the identical specimen of which we have the pelvis, right femur, tibia and fibula, and the two first dorsal vertebree in our Museum. It is thus evident why we could not succeed in finding the other bones, since they had been taken out of the drain, as I expected all along. I should like very much to obtain a cast of the tibia and metatarsus of your D. maximus to com- plete our leg; and if you like, I will send you a cast of the fibula. The fragment of metatarsus found in the drain belonged, as I sus- pected, to the same specimen. I thought and hoped that the bones you had described as of D. maximus belonged to a specimen of which we possess some phalanges and a few vertebre, and of which the leg-bones disappeared mysteriously from Glenmark. The men in excavating the drain got three leg-bones out, which they considered to have been 7 feet to 7 feet 6 inches together in length. Mr. Moore inspected them, and confirmed this statement. The men placed the bones carefully in the grass ; but when they returned after dinner to work, the bones were gone. I hope they will turn up some time. Should you like a drawing, with dimensions, of the pelvis, 56 PROF. OWEN ON THE EXTINCTION OF DINORNIS. [Jan. 27, which is in perfect condition, please to tell me, and I shall have it prepared as soon as possible. ‘* Believe me, my dear Professor Owen, * Your’s most faithfully, “Prof. R. Owen, F.R.S., « Jutrus Haast.” British Museum, London.” In perusing with much interest the foregoing letter, I jotted down a few notes that occurred to me, and send the following as an Appendix to Dr. Haast’s remarks :— In the traditions of the Maories, handed down by tales and chaunts from father to son, collected and translated by Governor Sir George Grey, K.C,B., are some relating obviously to the Moa*. Through how many generations such traditions had travelled there is no evi- dence. Neither does Dr. Haast communicate in the foregoing inter- esting letter the other alleged facts on which conviction could rest as to the indubitableness of the extinction of the species of Dinornis “many hundred years ago,” If the “‘ manner of their occurrence” relates to the depth “6 or 8 inches of vegetable soil” covering the ‘‘ cooking-places or ovens,” that evidence is insufficient as to their date. The native oven and contiguous heap of bones discovered by Mr. Cormack in the North Island of New Zealand, in the bay Opito, on the east coast, were covered by a “stratum of sand” of 3 feet depth. The “kitchen-midden” there was chiefly of remains of Dinornis, with bones of smaller birds and of fishes; and, with reference to the former, it is significant of a knowledge of the ‘‘ traditions,” that Mr. Cormack’s ‘native attendant remarked that they were the remains of the food cooked here at a former period and eaten by the then native inhabitants” {. The geological judgment, to which Mr. Cormack defers, as to the {ime required for the accumulation of 3 feet of drift-sand over a cooking-oven on a sand-cliff by the sea-shore would not be favour- able to assigning to it a date of “several hundred years.” Mr, Cormack does not notice any human remains or works in his “‘ kitchen-midden ;’’ nor were any of the former in the collection of bones transmitted to me. Dr. Haast’s negative evidence is the more valuable, since remains of the human skeleton were evidently sought for, and would have been recognized by so accomplished a naturalist and anatomist. I conclude, therefore, whatever may be the date of these Moa feasts, that the moderate or middle-sized species of these large birds were then in numbers sufficient to stave off that fell famine which at or near the epoch of their extinction drove the Maories to cannibalism. But upon this point, and in the absence of the more gigantic species of Dinornis from the “ovens” and “ middens”’ dis- covered by Dr. Haast, I may refer to the concluding paragraph of my first memoir “on Dinornis” (Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. iii. p. 270). * See Sir George Grey’s remarks, below, p. 116.—Ep. + “On Dinornis,” Part VI. (Trans. Zool. Soe. vol. iv. p. 146). + Ib. p. 146. i wn, Tey | / SP AL M & N lianhart imp } Smit ith if 1870.] MR. P.L. SCLATER ON BIRDS FROM THE PARANA, 57 I will only add that the cranium of the Dinornis, tom. cit. pl. 38. fig. 41, that figured in vol. iv. pl. 24. fig. 4, and a few other muti- lated crania not figured show the basal aperture which Dr. Haast rightly, I believe, conjectures to have been made for the purpose of extracting the brain. 2. On some new or little-known Birds from the Rio Parana. By P. L. Sctarer, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Society. (Plate III.) The authorities of the Smithsonian Institution have kindly sub- mitted to my examination a small collection of bird-skins from various parts of South America, belonging principally to the difficult groups of Tyrannide, Dendrocolaptide, and others, which it is almost im- possible to determine without the assistance of a large series of named specimens. Amongst these are several skins obtained during the second American expedition to the Rio Parana, under the com- mand of Capt, T. J. Page, U.S.N., in 1859-60. Some of these be- long to very interesting species, such as Casiornis rubra (Vieill.), Hapalocercus pectoralis (Vieill.)*, Stigmatura budytoides (Latr. et d’Orb.)t, Euscarthmus margaritaceiventris (Lafr. et d’Orb.), and Empidagra suiriri (Vieill.). Two others, which have particularly attracted my attention, are a specimen of the scarce Synallaxine form Coryphistera alaudina of Burmeister and a rather obscure Tyrant- bird, which I propose to describe as new. The single skin of Coryphistera alaudina (Plate III.) is the only example that I have ever seen of this bird besides the original spe- cimens of Burmeister, which were obtained in the neighbourhood of the city of Parana. It is marked “ Vermejo, Feb. 1860,” by which, I suppose, is intended the Rio Vermejo—a confluent of the Paraguay above its junction with the Parand. It agrees generally with Bur- meister’s description (La Plata-Reise, ii. p. 470), and belongs, with- out doubt, to a well-marked and rather isolated form, to be located, as Burmeister has arranged it, near to Synallazis and Anumbius, but presenting some points of analogical resemblance to the Crested Larks. Burmeister does not notice the white lores and eye-ring and the chestnut ear-coverts, which form a conspicuous feature in this bird ; but his description is otherwise generally accurate. Of the Tyrant-bird above alluded to, there is likewise only a single skin, labelled ‘male: Corumba, Brazil, July 1859”. Its colour * Cf. Pelzeln, Orn. Bras. p. 103. + Cf. Sclat. et Salv. P. Z. S. 1866, p. 188. { Corumba is a Brazilian settlement on the Upper Paraguay in the province of Matto-Grosso, about 120 miles above Coimbra. See Page’s ‘ La Plata, the Argen- tine Confederation, and Paraguay’ (New York, 1859), p. 187. 58 MR. P. L. SCLATER ON BIRDS FROM THE PARANA. [Jan. 27, somewhat reminds one of Sayornis; but it appears to belong struc- turally to Cnipolegus, and I propose to call it CNIPOLEGUS CINEREUS, Sp. nov. Obscure cineraceus fere unicolor, tectricum alarum et secundario- rum marginibus angustis paulo dilutioribus ; fronte, oculorum ambitu, et cauda tota nigricantibus ; remigum externorum api- cibus angustatis, acutis, eorum omnium pogoniis internis in parte basali et maculis quibusdam hypochondriorum absconditis albis: vostro nitenti-corneo, pedibus obscure carneis: long. tota 5-3 poll. Angl., ale 2°3, caude 2°5, tarsi 0°75. Hab. Corumba, in ripis fl. Paraguay superioris. Mus. Smithsoniano, no. 16,355. Cnipolegus cinereus. This bird agrees in every essential part of its structure with the smaller species of Cnipolegus forming the section Sericoptila, but may be distinguished at once by its nearly uniform dark cinereous colouring, with paler brownish edgings to the wing-coverts and secondaries. ‘he bill is like that of Cnipolegus unicolor, differing only in being slightly narrower. As in the last-named species, also, the outermost primaries are very narrow throughout their length and pointed at their extremities. The fourth primary is longest, slightly exceeding the fifth, the outer three being gra- duated. The tail is nearly square, the outer rectrices being but little shorter than the median. ‘The feet are those of the other Cnipolegi, but perhaps rather more slender. 1870. | DR. W. BAIRD ON PROTOMA KNOCKERI. 59 3. Description of a new Genus and Species of Shells from Whydah, on the West Coast of Africa, with some Re- marks on the Genus Proto of Defrance. By W. Bairp, M.D., F.R.S., &c. The British Museum has just received, through the kindness of Mrs. Knocker, of Exmouth, a series of shells collected by her late husband, Captain H. H. Knocker, R.N., C.M.Z.S., at Whydah and the Bight of Benin on the west coast of Africa. Amongst these is a species belonging to the family Turritellidze, which I at first con- sidered might be referred to the genus Proto of Defrance. Upon more mature examination, however, of that genus as established by the French author mentioned above, I now believe this mollusk to be distinct and fairly entitled to be described as a new genus. I have therefore named it Protema, from its resemblance to one of the spe- cies referred to that genus and from the slit in the under lip*. It may be thus defined :— PROTOMA, nov. gen. Testa turrita, Apertura ovalis, labro inferiore acute inciso. Operculum circulare, corneum, multispirale. Pio. Fig. 2 Protoma knockeri, Baird. , dorsal aspect. 3 Operculum. * Proto and Topi, a slit. 60 DR. W. BAIRD ON PROTOMA KNOCKERI. [Jan. 27, As yet, we have only one species; and I propose naming it after its discoverer. It may be thus defined :— PROTOMA KNOCKERI. Testa elongato-subulata, transversim dense sulcata, sulcis minutis; anfractibus sedecem, planulatis, suturis distinctis; apertura ovalis, labro infra aperturam acute inciso; operculum circu- lare, parvum, multispirale, corneum. Long. 23 poll. Hab. Whydah, west coast of Africa (Capt. H. H. Knocker, R.N.). This species resembles in some respects, generically, the Proto cathedralis of Defrance. It is much smaller than that shell, how- ever; the sulci or ridges are much finer and more numerous; and there are no large circular ribs or sulci at the base of the last whorl. Instead of merely an emargination on the under lip, this part of the shell is more sharply cut or incised, and the slit is more profound. The operculum, which fortunately exists in one specimen, is small, circular, and resembles that of Mesalia or Turritella. It is difficult to say what the colour is, as in the largest specimen we possess the shell is brown, while in all the others it is quite white or colourless. Remarks on the Genus Proto of Defrance. Taking the Turritella cathedralis of Brongniart to be the type, as Deshayes (in the last edition of Lamarck’s ‘ An. sans Verteb.’) asserts it to be, of the genus Proto of Defrance, I was at first induced to consider the shell just described a species of that genus. A further examination, however, has decided me to alter my opinion, as the following observations will show. In 1815, in the eleventh volume of the ‘ Linnean Transactions,’ Leach established the genus Proto for a particular species of amphi- podous Crustacea. This name has since then been adopted by Desmarest (in 1825), Johnston, A. White (in his ‘ Catalogue of the Crustacea in the British Museum’), and by Spence Bate (in his ‘ Catalogue of the Amphipoda in the British Museum’). In the same year (1815) the name of Proto was given by Oken, in his ‘ Lehrbuch,’ to a genus of Annelidan worms belonging to the Naiadina. This ‘genus was subsequently adopted by CErsted in Kroyer’s ‘ Tidsskrift’ in 1843, and by Johnston in his ‘ Catalogue of the Non-parasitical Worms in the British Museum.’ Grube, however, considers the genus Proto to be synonymous with another genus esta- blished by Oken in the same work, and called by him Dero. If this synonymy be correct and the genus Dero be adopted, we shall then have no difficulty in giving precedence to the genus formed by Leach. To render the word Proto, however, still more perplexing, Defrance gave the same name to a genus of shells. Inthe ‘ Dict. des Sc. Nat. vol. xliii. (published in 1825), this author defined his genus; and about the same time it made its appearance in De Blainville’s ‘ Ma- nuel de Malacologie.’ As the species upon which Defrance founded his genus was figured by him (and reproduced by Blainville in the 1870.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE GENUS PELARGOPSIS. 61 work mentioned above), under the name of Proto maraschinii, we find it represented as having the mouth perfectly round, and no appear- ance is shown of the slit or incision in the lower lip; neither is there any mention made of this character in his description. The genus Proto is defined by him as a shell having “a round mouth formed by the reunion of the left lip, which, passing circularly to that of the right side, terminates higher up towards the middle of the last whorl.” It is also described as having the lower part of each whorl with a raised band round it, as in many of the species of the genus Terebra. The Proto maraschinii is said by him to be recent. The other spe- cies which have been referred to this genus are apparently quite different, both in the mouth and the body of the shell, and must be separated from it. They may possibly enter as species into the genus which I have now formed; and it is somewhat remarkable, if so, that no recent species have hitherto been found. However this may be, the name Proto having been previously used by Leach for a crustacean, and since then adopted by several carcinologists, must stand ; and it has the precedence of Defrance’s name by ten years. In the same collection of shells made by Captain Knocker two or three specimens of a turritelliform shell occur, which agree in shape and size (about 9 lines long) with the Proto maraschinii as figured by Defrance. They are, however, so worn and rubbed, that it is impossible to ascertain exactly their identity. I may also remark that a species of shell, Cardita ajar, occurring in the same collection (from the Bight of Benin) is likewise found fossil in the Miocene formation in Europe. 4, On the Genus Pelargopsis, Gloger. By R. B. Suarpe. In pursuance of the plan I before proposed to myself, of laying before the Society short synopses of the various genera of Kingfishers which are more or less obscure, I have now the pleasure of submit- ting a review of the genus Pelargopsis, or Stork-billed Kingfishers. By most authors these Kingfishers have been included in the genus Halcyon ; but in my opinion they are more closely allied to Ceryle, to the larger members of which latter genus they bear unmistakable affinity. There is probably no group in the whole family of the ** Alcedinidz ” which is involved in greater confusion than the pre- sent genus, consequent, apparently, on the close affinity of one spe- cies to another, and on the refusal of ornithologists to grant specific rank to the various well-characterized races of the brown-capped section of the genus, and likewise from the wrong identifications of the species of the older authors. I have endeavoured in the present paper to dispel the existing confusion ; and by treating the various so-called “‘races” as good species, which, in my humble opinion, they decidedly constitute, a much clearer idea of the genus Pelar- gopsis may be arrived at. * 62 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE GENUS PELARGOPSIS. ([Jan. 27, I therefore propose to divide and classify the different species as follows. All the birds enumerated in the “ clavis” present some distinguishing characteristic, while there are others which will not admit of a separate diagnosis ; and these are therefore considered in the light of races or subspecies. Ge, RROSULO DICTO) Waasadeccnuseedosenedsacccsacomnscsscesanedscncdegenrny oes 1. melanoryncha. b. Rostro rubro. a’. Scapularibus bDrunneis ......eeecseseceeeeceeecneeececeeees 2. amauroptera. 4'. Scapularibus cyaneis aut viridi-cyaneis. a’. Capite haud pileato, collo postico concolori. a’. Major: supra viridi-cyanea ............ 3. gouldi. 6’. Minor: supra letissime cyanea......... 4. leucocephala. 4". Capite indistincte pileato, ochrascenti-cinereo 5. fraseri. ce’. Capite distincte pileato. a'’, Pileo haud cyaneo lavato. a''"'. Pileo saturate brunneo ......... 6. gurial. 6", Pileo albescenti-cinereo......... 7. burmanica. 5". Pileo pallide brunneo, viridi-cyaneo di- Stincteavato ieiisiee. . I. Moa 8. floresiana. I may state that the idea of separating these Kingfishers into dif- ferent species has not been hastily conceived by me; on the con- trary, the conclusions obtained in the present paper are the result of several months’ patient study with a very large series of specimens at my command from all localities. It has, indeed, before been mooted whether these birds ought not to be separated as species ; and Lord Walden has expressed his opinion (P. Z. 8S. 1866, p. 553) that the variations in plumage were also coincident with changes of locality. 1, PELARGOPSIS MELANORYNCHA (Temm.). Alcedo melanoryncha, Temm. Pl. Col. 391 (1826); Schl. Mus. Pays-Bas, Alced. p. 15 (1863); id. Vog. Ned. Ind. dAlced. pp. 10, 47, pl. 2 (1864). Halcyon melanoryncha, Gray, Gen. of Birds, i. p. 79 (1846); Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 155 (1850); Cass. Cat. Hale. Phil. Mus. p. 10 (1852); Wall. Ibis, 1860, p. 142, et P. Z. S. 1862, pp. 335, 338. Hylcaon melanoryncha, Reich. Handb. diced. p. 18, t. ccexcix. f. 3074 (1851). Ramphalcyon melanoryncha, Bonap. Consp. Vol. Anis. p. 10 (1854). Entire body cream-colour, a little deeper on the throat, and ap- proaching to pale orange on the abdomen and under tail-coverts; forehead dusky grey, the base of a few feathers on the crown also slightly showing this colour ; cheeks and ear-coverts more decided dusky grey, the feathers narrowly edged or washed with cream- colour; middle of the back, scapularies, and wing-coverts brownish, washed with dull green, the latter narrowly edged with cream-colour at the tip; quills dark brown, the inner web white at the base, the basal half of the outer web of the primaries and the whole of the outer web of the secondaries dusky green ; tail dusky green above, dark brown beneath; bill black ; feet dusky; eyes dark brown. 1870.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE GENUS PELARGOPSIS. 63 Total length 14 inches, of bill from front 3-3, from gape 3°5, wing 5:9, tail 3°7, tarsus 0°45, middle toe 1°1, hind toe 0°5. Hab. Celebes and Sula Islands ( Wallace). This is the most distinct species of the genus, easily recognizable by its jet-black bill. It appears to be by no means rare in the island of Celebes, several beautiful specimens having been forwarded to me from thence by my friend Mr. W. T. Fraser, from one of which the above description has been taken. 2. PELARGOPSIS AMAUROPTERA (Pears.). Halcyon amauroptera, Pears. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1841, p. 635; Blyth, Ann. Nat. Hist. xii. p. 94 (1843); Gray, Gen. of Birds, i. p- 79 (1846); Blyth, Cat. Birds Mus. As. Soc. Beng. p. 313 (1849); Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 155 (1850); Cass. Cat. Hale. Phil. Mus. p. 10 (1852); Horsf. and Moore, Cat. Birds Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 124 (1854); Jerdon, Birds of India, i. p. 224 (1862); Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 347. Ramphalcyon amauroptera, Reich. Handb. Aleced.p.17, t. cecclxxxi. f. 3407 (1851); Bonap. Consp. Vol. Anis. p. 10 (1854). Pelargopsis amauroptera, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. ii. p. 157 (1860). Entire head, neck, and under surface of the body yellowish cinna- mon; upper part of the back, scapularies, and wing-coverts choco- late-brown ; entire back and rump silvery cobalt ; quills chocolate- brown, the inner web light cinnamon at the base; tail-coverts and tail chocolate-brown, darker underneath ; bill and feet sealing-wax red. Total length 13 inches, of bill from front 3, from gape 3-5, wing 5°8, tail 4, tarsus 0°5, middle toe 1, hind toe 0°5. Hab. Bengal (Sundurbuns especially); Arakan ; Tenasserim pro- vinces ; very abundant along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, not yet observed on the western. Not rare in the vicinity of Cal- cutta (Blyth), Assam (Mus. H. B. Tristram). I cannot understand how this very distinct and clearly characterized species could ever have been united under any circumstances to the more common P, gurial. The whole distribution of the colouring and the brown scapularies at once distinguish it. My description is from an Assamese specimen, kindly lent me by the Rev. H. B. Tristram. 3. PELARGOPSIS GOULDI, sp. n. Whole head and neck and the whole of the under surface of the body rich ochre ; upper part of the back, scapularies, wing-coverts, upper tail-coverts, and upper surface of the tail green, slightly in- clining to blue on the latter ; whole of the back and rump silvery cobalt ; quills blackish, the inner web pale orange at the base, the exterior web of the primaries and nearly the whole of both webs of the secondaries bright cobalt ; bill rich vermilion; feet dark red. Total length 13 inches, of bill from front 3°2, from gape 3°6, wing 6, tail 3°5, tarsus 0°5, middle toe 1, hind toe 0°5. Hab. Philippines, Island of Luzon (Cuming; mus. J. Gould). 64 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE GENUS PELARGOPSIS. [Jan. 27, This new species forms the second of the uncapped section of the genus Pelargopsis, the other being the P. leucocephala (Gm.) from Borneo. From this latter species it is distinguished by its much larger size, and by the green colour of the upper surface of the body, this being in P. leucocephala of a rich ultramarine. Mr. Blyth has referred to this bird as being the only species to which the much-disputed name of Jeucocephala is really referable. The specimen on which Mr. Blyth made this remark is a Manilla specimen collected by the late Mr. Cuming, and now in the Derby Museum at Liverpool. Mr. T. J. Moore, the well-known curator of the above-named museum, very kindly sent me the bird to exa- mine. I found it apparently quite identical with a specimen in Mr. Gould’s collection from Manilla; but, from long exposure to light, the Liverpool specimen has become so bleached that all the rich ochre colour has completely vanished from the head, leaving that portion white, whence Mr. Blyth’s remarks. I consider this species to be very distinct from the Javan species and from the Bornean, and propose to call it after Mr. Gould, who has always most kindly assisted me in my study of Kingfishers. 4, PELARGOPSIS LEUCOCEPHALA. Martin-pécheur de Java, Buff. Pl. Enl. 757. Alcedo javana, Bodd. Tabl. Pl. Enl. 757 (1783, ex Buff.). White-headed Kingfisher, Lath. Syn. i. pt. ii. p. 678 (1782). Alcedo leucocephala, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 456 (1788, ex Lath.) ; Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 248 (1790); Bonn, etVieill. Enc. Méth. i. p. 288 (1823); Shaw & Nodd. Nat. Mise. pl. 793 (1807). Halcyon leucocephala, Steph. Gen. Zool. viii. p. 100 (1826) ; Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 154 (1850); Sclater, P. Z. S. 1863, . 213. R Alcedo javanica, Shaw, Gen. Zool. viii. p. 67 (1811). Halcyon javana, Gray, Gen. of B.i. p. 79 (1846). Halcyon javana (part.), Pelz. Reise d. Nov. Vog. p. 49 (1865). Bakaka and Rajah udong of the natives of Banjermassing (Motley). Head and back of the neck pale ochre; back of the neck richer ochre ; upper part of the back and scapularies ultramarine, with a faint greenish lustre ; lower part of the back extremely rich cobalt ; wing-coverts rich ultramarine; quills dark blackish brown, the inner web pale ochre at the base, the basal half of the outer web of the primaries and the whole of the outer web of the secondaries very rich ultramarine ; tail rich ultramarine above, black beneath ; throat and cheeks pale ochre; rest of the under surface of the body rich ochre, a few of the flanks washed with ultramarine; bill dark-seal- ing-wax red ; feet dark red. Total length 13 inches, of bill from front 3, from gape 3°3, wing 5°8, tail 3°3, tarsus 0°45, middle tue 0-1, hind toe 0°45. Hab. Borneo, Sarawak (Wallace); Banjermassing (Motley) ; Labuan ( Moéley). As Lord Walden has suggested (P. Z. S. 1866, p. 553), the bird 1870.] | MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE GENUS PELARGOPSIS. 65 figured by Buffon (7. c.) as the Martin-pécheur de Java agrees very well with the Bornean Pelargopsis ; and as the description also ac- cords with the same bird, I see no reason to refuse the conclusion forced upon us in this manner. On this plate is founded the Alcedo javana of Boddaert ; but this name must be dropped as inapplicable, and the term Jeucocephala, the next in order of priority, be sub- stituted. 5. PELARGOPSIS FRASER], Sp. 0. Ispida capitis bone spei, Briss. Orn. iv. p. 488. Alcedo capensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 180 (1766, ex Briss.) ; Bon. et Vieill. Ene. Méth. i. p. 285 (1823). Haleyon capensis, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 154 (1850) ; Eyton, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 101. Ramphaleyon javana, Reich. Handb. Alced. p. 7, t. eecxcviii. b. fig. 3406 (1851, nec Bodd.). Halcyon javana, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. ii. p. 156 (1860, nec Bodd.). Halcyon javanica, Cass. Cat. Hale. Phil. Mus. p. 11 (1852, nec Shaw). Halcyon javana (part.), Pelz. Reise d. Nov. Vég. p. 49 (1865). Alcedo leucocephala, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xii. p. 174 (1822, nec Gm.). Halcyon leucocephalus, Blyth, Cat. Birds Mus. As. Soc. Beng. p- 46 (1849) ; Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av.i. p. 154 (1850); Horsf. & Moore, Cat. Birds Mus. E.-I. Co. i. p. 123 (1854, pt.); Moore, P.Z.S. 1854, p. 268. Burong-Kaha of the natives of the Malay peninsula (Zyton). Tengke-Buto of the Javans (Horsfield). Head indistinctly capped, ashy brown, strongly washed with pale ochre ; space between the bill and the eye, cheeks, and ear-coverts more decidedly ashy grey; sides and back of the neck ochre; upper part of the back and scapularies indigo-blue, with more or less of a greenish tinge ; whole of the back rich cobalt ; wing-coverts blue, with a slight greenish lustre ; quills pale brown, the inner web light ochre at the base, the outer web, especially of the secondaries, in- digo; tail indigo above, black beneath ; under surface of the body ochre, tinged with whitish on the throat; bill dark sealing-wax red ; feet dark red. Total length 14 inches, of bill from front 3°3, from gape 3°7, wing 6:2, tail 3°8, tarsus 0°45, middle toe 1, hind toe 0°45. Hab. Java (Horsfield, Wallace); Malacca (mus. &. B. S.); Penang (Cantor; mus. R. B. 8.). a. Sumatran race. Alcedo leucocephala, Raffi. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 293 (1822). Baug Kaha of the natives of Sumatra (Raffles). Hab. Sumatra (Raffles, Wallace). The Sumatran race of P. fraseri is much smaller, the blues slightly more intense, but the bird appears to be not specifically separable. Proc. Zooxu. Soc.—1870, No. V. 66 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE GENUS PELARGOPSIS. [Jan. 27, After carefully comparing a skin of the adult Javan bird with Brisson’s elaborate description, I believe that his “Ispida capitis bone spei” was really taken from a Javan specimen. Consequently the species stands primarily as Alcedo capensis, Linn. But in the face of the manifest incongruity of such an appellation, I believe myself justified in proposing a new name for the bird, and I therefore take the opportunity of connecting with it the name of my friend Mr. W. T. Fraser, of Soerabaya, Java, to whom I am indebted for many kind remittances of Javan Kingfishers. It is very seldom that we meet with a specimen of P. fraseri with any thing like a distinct cap. Mr. Wallace’s collection, however, contains a specimen obtained by himself in Eastern Java which has the cap very distinct, like the bird figured by Professor Reichenbach (1. c.). The species, however, differs from P. burmanica by always having an admixture of ochre, sometimes very distinct, in the feathers of the head. 6. PELARGOPSIS GURIAL. Halcyon gurial, Pears. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1841, p. 633 (deser. orig.); Blyth, Cat. Birds Mus. As. Soc. Beng. p. 47 (1849); Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 155 (1850); Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 228 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 30. Ramphaleyon gurial, Reich. Handb. Alced. p. 16, t. eccexxvi. (1851). Pelargopsis gurial, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. ii. p. 156 (1860). Halcyon capensis, Jerd. Madr. Journ. 1840, p. 231; Blyth, Ann. Nat. Hist. xii. p. 94 (1843). Halcyon brunniceps, Jerd. Madr. Journ. 1844, p. 143. Halcyon leucocephalus (part.), Horsf. & Moore, Cat. Birds Mus. E.-I. Co. p. 123 (1854). Halcyon leucocephalus, Jerdon, Birds of India, i. p. 222 (1862); Day, Land of Perm. p. 460 (1863) ; Beav. Ibis, 1865, p. 407; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 347. Gurial of the Bengalese (Pearson). Mala-poyma of the natives of Malabar (Jerdon). Head dark chocolate-brown; sides of the neck and a collar en- circling the same pale ochre; upper portion of the back and sca- pularies dull green; rest of the back rich greenish cobalt; wing- coverts dull green with a faint blue lustre; quills black, the inner web yellowish white at the base, the outer edge of the whole of the feathers greenish blue; tail greenish blue above, black beneath ; under surface of the body ochre, palest on the throat ; bill very dark sealing-wax red; feet dull red. Total length 14 inches, of bill from front 3°1, from gape 3°7, wing 6°4, tail 3°6, tarsus 0°5, middle toe 1°], hind toe 0°5. Hab, All India, from the extreme south to Bengal and Ceylon; common in Malabar; rarely seen in the Carnatic and upon the table- land ; occasionally found in Central India and the Northern Circars ; 1870.) MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE GENUS PELARGOPSIS. 67 most abundant in Bengal, but apparently not found, or rare, in the north-west (Jerdon). a. Assamese and Nepaulese race, with the head a little lighter brown. Haleyon leucocephalus, Horsf. P. Z. S. 1839, p. 156; Gray, Cat. Fiss. Brit. Mus. p. 55 (1848, pt.); Horsf. & Moore, Cat. Birds Mus. E.-I. Co. p. 123 (1854). Haleyon capensis, J. E. & G. R. Gray, Cat. Birds and Mamm. of Nep. p. 56 (1846). Haleyon gurial, J. KE. & G. R. Gray, Cat. Birds and Mamm. of Nep. p. 24 (1863). 6. Malacca race. Much smaller. Head much darker and gene- rally glossed, sometimes also a slight blue lustre being apparent. This race must ultimately be separated specifically, and I name it provisionally Pelargopsis malaccensis. Its nearest ally is P. gurial ; but it is altogether smaller, the blues are always much brighter, and it must be remembered that true P. gurial never really approaches the range of this Malacca bird. Between the ranges of the two spe- cies intervene P. burmanica and P. amauroptera. Professor Schlegel states, in his ‘‘ Catalogue,” that a Nepaulese specimen in the Leyden Museum is “ absolument semblable aux indi- vidus de Java.’ This statement, which seems to have taken Mr. Blyth by surprise (vide ‘Ibis,’ 1866, p. 347), certainly astonished me considerably. I think, however, that there must be a mistake in the labels of the specimens examined by the learned Professor ; for I have in my collection a Stork-billed Kingfisher from Assam, which agrees in every respect with specimens in the British Mu- seum from Nepaul, presented by Mr. Hodgson, from whom also Professor Schlegel obtained his specimen. These birds differ a little in the colour of the cap, which is a shade lighter brown than in true P. gurial from India, but I have never seen an adulé Javan speci- men with such a clearly defined cap. Reichenbach, in the letterpress of his work, refers to “ t. ecexcix. fig. 3075” as being the figure of Ramphalcyon gurial. This is a mistake, as this figure is a copy of Buffon’s plate 757 (P. leucoce- phalus of this paper), and the reference given in the list of plates to Reichenbach’s work, viz. “t. ececxxvi. fig. 3158” is really the re- presentation of R. gurial. 7. PELARGOPSIS BURMANICA, Sp. n. Halcyon leucocephalus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1859, pp. 151, 152; Schomb. Ibis, 1864, p. 247; Beav. Ibis, 1866, p. 221; Walden, P. Z.S. 1866, p. 553; Beav. Ibis, 1867, p. 318. Halcyon leucocephalus (part.), Horsf. & Moore, Cat. Birds Mus. E.-I. Co. i. p. 123 (1854). ? Ramphaleyon capensis, Reich. Handb. Alced. p. 16, t. ceexcix. f. 3072, 3073 (1851). Head, which is distinctly capped, clear albescent grey ; sides of the neck and a collar encircling the same very deep ochre; upper part of 68 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE GENUS PELARGOPSIS. [Jan. 27, the back and scapularies dull green, with a faint blue lustre here and there ; whole of the back very rich cobalt ; wing-coverts green- ish, more distinctly washed with blue; quills brown, the inner web pale ochre at the base, the exterior web, especially of the secon- daries, externally edged with bright blue; tail bright blue above, dark brown beneath; entire under surface very deep ochre; bill dark vermilion; feet dark red. Total length 14 inches, of bill from front 3:4, from gape 3°7, wing 6, tail 3-8, tarsus 0°5, middle toe 1, hind toe 0°5. Hab. Tavoy, Tenasserim Provinces (Briggs); Burmah (Blyth ; mus. Lord Walden); Siam (Schomburgk ; Mouhot;mus. J. Gould) ; Andaman Islands (Tyétler, Beavan). This species may be distinguished at a glance by the colouring of the cap, which is always of a light grey, very different from the dark brown cap of P. gurial. Its principal habitat seems to be Burmah, whence it ranges into Siam to the eastward, and perhaps into the Malayan peninsula to the southward. The plates of Reichenbach’s work are so inaccurate that it is only doubtfully that I refer the figures given in his ‘ Tabule’ to the present species. Its range is stated by him to be the Cape of Good Hope, South and South-eastern Africa generally (Dresden Mu- seum), which statement naturally does not aid one in a correct de- termination of the locality of the specimens figurede 8. PELARGOPSIS FLORESIANA, sp. nov. Flores Kingfisher. Martin-pécheur du Cap de Bonne Espérance, Buff. Pl. Enl. 590. Halcyon leucocephalus, Wald. P. Z. 8. 1863, p. 484 (nee Gm.). Halcyon capensis, Swains. Classif. of B. ii. p. 335 (1837, nec Linn.). Head (distinctly capped) pale brown, with a bluish-green lustre ; cheeks, sides of the neck, and a collar encircling the back of the neck pale ochre; upper part of the back and scapularies ultramarine with a tinge of green; back rich cobalt, deepening into ultrama- rine on the rump and upper tail-coverts; quills brownish black, the inner web pale ochre at the base, the outer web, especially of the secondaries, washed with blue; tail rich blue above, black beneath ; under surface of the body deep ochre, much paler on the throat ; bill dark sealing-wax red, black at the tip; feet dark red. Total length 13:5 inches, of bill from front 3:2, from gape 3°7, wing 5:7, tail 3:6, tarsus 0°45, middle toe 1, hind toe 0°45. Hab. Flores (Wallace). In all specimens of the Stork-billed Kingfisher that I have examined from the island of Flores, there has always been a very distinct greenish lustre on the head; and as the colour of the cap is always a pale brown, and these characters appear to be constant, I do not hesitate to separate it specifically, Buffon’s plate represents the bird with a green head ; I have care- fully compared an adult Flores specimen with the description given by him, and it agrees very well indeed ; so that I think it extremely probable that the present species formed the subject of his plate. I P29. 16/2 Ie M & N Hantart inip JSmithth CAM PEP H B GA AN DE, R S S O N [ 1870.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON CAMPEPHAGA ANDERSSONI, 69 do not consider Buffon’s Martin-pécheur du Cap de Bonne Espé- rance to be the same bird as Brisson’s ‘“‘Ispida capitis bone sper” (= A. capensis, Linn.); and I think it probable that Buffon hastily referred his bird to Brisson’s species, the exact localities of both being unknown. Table of the Geographical Distribution of the Genus Pelargopsis. i] Indian Region. — egion. Indian Chinese Indo-Malay ||Cele-| Timor Asia. Asia. Islands. bes. | group. Peep aa | = A. = g =z. a s A/a o a} = ols Sitti | Bla S| Sli | hE lho] Shes | Sl e/ 8) 5/2/8) 21 8l8 Sls| (Sl SlSi4i8iais = |S 3 | Fle | S/S wle|s/Sla lola 2\S S/S 2(S\2 (5s |8(s S1EE |S alas |sisiz Sldlazla|4|< iain laalalS lala loja|alele 1. P. melanoryncha ...... eae foee| ten BB al PTS BR ae Sears ie el es aa | 2. P. amauroptera......... % |oefeen| # | ¥]-oe[eee]- ee] # | | Pobe bap eOULG a ven necacs se eer Sectece|nes BEANS Riera orale [ese senosebeeetaes oes | ¥ lia 4. P. leucocephala......... pee ic pe Bal bea| a bad eae Nas acne ac oi Wag AMPASELE Beet ack teenee ee Eel Se: Messteee |e: pele ee | scloetae. LRKE Bea] endl a. Sumatran race .. |...).--|..-).ee)-re|e--[eee|eee|eee [eee eee * 6. P. gurial ........-....0- *|% a. Assamese race ...|...|...| * | * | || | b. Malacean race y | (P. malaccensis) | Ee H | | 7. P. burmanica...........- Py ae Pe yd Oe 2 ba fe | | 8. P. floresiana ...........5 sesfeesfecelecs|eeserefecs|sesleceloeeeer|ea: seeleee ene|/ene praise 5. On Campephaga anderssoni, an apparently undescribed Species of this Genus from South-western Africa. By R. B. SHARPE. (Plate IV.) In the last collection made by the late Mr. C. J. Andersson from Damara Land and the adjacent district of Ovampo, I found the bird which forms the subject of the present paper. So far as I can make out, it is not included by Dr. Hartlaub in his elaborate paper on the Campephagine (‘“ Monographische Studien iiber die Gruppe der Campephaginen, von Dr. G. Hartlaub,” Journ. f. Orn. 1865, p. 153). According to the descriptions given in the learned doctor’s mono- graph, the Damara bird would appear to be closely allied to Campe- phaga frenata (Heugl. Journ. f. Orn. 1864, p. 255) from the Bogos country ; but it differs conspicuously in the colour of the throat. I therefore propose to call it after Mr. Andersson, whose untimely 70 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE GENUS ORCA. (Jan. 27, death will not fail to be regarded by every one as a most serious loss to the cause of African ornithology. CAMPEPHAGA ANDERSSON], sp. n. (Plate IV.) C. supra pulchre cinerea, uropygio paullo pallidiore ; remigibus cinerascentibus, secundariis externe cinereo lavatis et gracillime albo marginatis ; rectricibus mediis cinereis, reliquis nigris albo terminatis, duobus extimis albo marginatis : fronte basali et re- gione oculari albis, loris nigricantibus: subtus purissime alba, gutture circumscripte pallide cinereo. Long. tot. 9 poll. Angl., al. 5:4. Hab. in terra Damarensi. Above delicate grey, a little lighter on the rump; wing-coverts uniform with the back ; quills ashy brown, exteriorly margined with white; the outer web of the inner secondaries light grey, the innermost secondaries being entirely of this colour; tail black, narrowly tipped with white, the two middle feathers ashy grey, with obscure cross markings in some lights, the outer rectrix having the outer web white ; the base of the forehead and the feathers in front of and round the eye white; the space between the base of the bill and the eye black ; the entire under surface of the body pure white, the throat with a crescent-like band of clear grey, cutting off the chin from the breast, both of these being pure white; bill and feet black. Total length 9 inches, of bill from front 9°7, wing 5°4, tail 4°*7, tarsus 0°85. Hab, Ovaquenyama, Damara Land, June 25th, 1867 (C. J. An- dersson ; spec. in mus. R. B. S.). Besides an apparent difference in the extent of white on the ex- terior tail-feathers, this new species seems at once to be distinguished from Campephaga frenata by the colour of the throat, which in this latter species, according to Dr. Hartlaub’s description (/. ¢.), is entirely obscure greyish ashy. 6. Notes on the Skulls of the Genus Orca in the British Museum, and notice of a Specimen of the Genus from the Seychelles. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. Mr. Swinburne Ward_has kindly sent a very beautiful skull of a * Killer”’ taken in the sea near the Seychelles Islands. To determine this skull:I have been induced to compare the skulls of the genus in the British Museum, which it is very necessary to do from time to time, as specimens gradually accumulate, and often arrive when I am occupied on other subjects, and consequently are put aside for future examination. In this examination I have observed that in the ‘ Catalogue of Seals and Whales’ I have confounded the skull described under the name of Orca capensis with one from the North Pacific, the former being the true Orca capensis, and the skull now received from the Sey- chelles Islands being of the same species. 1870.] DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE GENUS ORCA. Fis The skull figured in the ‘ Zoology of the Erebus and Terror’ under the name of O. capensis is from a specimen received from the Zoolo- gical Society, to which it was presented by Capt. Delville, who said he obtained it in the North Pacific(?). It is quite a different species, for which I propose the name of Orca pacifica. I doubt its being from the North Pacific, as I believe there is a skull of the same species in the Paris Museum, collected by M. Eydoux, and said to come from Chili. This reexamination has convinced me, and also, I believe, Mr. Flower, that the skull described under the name of Orca intermedia belongs to a very small species, and is not “the skull of a very young individual, probably of one of the large species,” as Mr. Flower supposed, apparently from the examination of the figure (see Flower, P. Z. 8. 1864, p. 425). Indeed, when the animal is known, I should not be at all astonished if it should prove to be a large species of Electra rather than of Orea, or perhaps a new genus. The examination of the four skulls of Orea found on the English coast show they belong to two very distinct species, one with a much more attenuated beak than the other. ° The Orca brevirostris, Owen, is only known from the skull of a very young animal. I have formed for it the genus Orcaella, and consider that it belongs to the tribe Delphinina, and not Orcadina (see Gray, ‘ Synopsis of Whales and Dolphins,’ p. 7). I. The beak from the notch before the orbit the same length as from the notch to the condyles ; the width at the notch three-fifths of the length of the beak. The occipital end of the skull slightly concave ; condyles of moderate size; lower jaw broad on the sides, very thick and solid in front. Orca. A. The beak of the skull tapering and narrow in front, end narrow. GLADIATOR. 1. Orca STENORHYNCHA. (Fig. |, p. 72, and fig. 3, p. 74.) Orca gladiator, Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 279. North Sea. Skeleton from Weymouth, and a skull from the English coast. B.M. Intermaxillaries narrow in the middle and rather dilated in front, but the extent of dilatation varies in the two specimens. B. Beak of the skull spatulate ; sides of the hinder half nearly parallel, of the front half arched and converging ; end rounded, middle rather wider than at the notch. Orca. 2. Orca CAPENSIS, Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 283. (Fig. 2, p- 73, and fig. 4, p. 75.) Delphinus orca, Owen. Grampus gladiator, Smith, South-African Zool. p. 126. Hab. Cape of Good Hope (Viney, B.M.; Villette, Mus. Coll. Surg. no. 1139); Seychelles Islands (Swinburne Ward). In the Cape specimen the intermaxillaries are nearly of the same 72 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE GENUS ORCA. Fies 1. Orca stenorhyncha, {Jan. 27, 1870. | DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE GENUS ORCA. Orca capensis. 4 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE GENUS ORCA. [ Jan. 27, Fig. 3. Orea stenorhyncha. DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE GENUS ORCA. wi) Oe ‘Bg Orca capensis. “NI 76 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE GENUS ORCA. [Jan. 27, width in the whole of their length ; in the Seychelles skull they are contracted in the greater part of their length, and rather dilated in front. 3. ORCA LATIROSTRIS. Delphinus orca, Cuv. Oss. Foss. v. tab. 22. fig. 4 (skull). The skull very similar to that of the Gane. species, but much smaller; but the beak is rather narrower, the intermaxillaries mo- derately broad, slightly dilated in front. Hab. North Sea. An adult skull from the coast of Essex (361 a), and another with- out the lower jaw, are in the British Museum. These skulls of the smaller British or, rather, European Orca are distinguishable from those of O. gladiator by the smaller size and the broader, rounder nose—and from the skulls of the Cape-of-Good- Hope species by being of a much smaller size, and having a depressed crown of the head. I believe the skull figured under the name of Delphinus orca by Cuvier, Oss. Foss. vol. v. tab. 22. figs. 3, 4, represents this species, from the form of the beak and the narrowness of the occiput: this figure has been copied by various British and other authors. ” Gervais, i in the ‘ Zoology and Paleontology of France,’ figures the skull of a young De/phinus orca, taken on the coast of Cette, which is now in the Museum of Paris. It appears to belong to this spe- cies, or it may be that the Orca of the Mediterranean does not grow to the usual size; or, again, it may be of a different species, for the skull is only fifty-eight centimetres long and thirty broad. 4. ORCA MAGELLANICA. Orca magellanica, Burmeister, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3. vol. xviii. p. 101; An, Mus. Publ. de Buenos Ayres, vol. i. p. 373, tab. 22. Hab. Patagonia (Mus. Buenos Ayres). This species, according to the figure, is very like Orca latirostris. Il. The beak from the notch before the orbit the same length as from the notch to the condyle ; width at the notch two-thirds the en- tire length of the beak. Intermawillaries very narrow, slightly dilated in front ; brain-cavity broad ; occiput deeply concave. Lower jaw very broad on the sides, very thick and solid in front. Opuysta, Gray, Synopsis of Whales and Dolphins, p. 8. 5. ORCA PACIFICA. Delphinus globiceps, Grant, P. Z.S. 1833, p. 65. Delphinus orca, Kydoux, Mus. Paris. Orca capensis, Gray, Zool. Erebus and Terror, p. 34, tab. 9, not Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 283. Orca (Ophysia) capensis, Gray, Synopsis of Whales and Dolphins, p. 8, tab. 9 (skull). Hab. North Pacific (Capt. Delville, R.N.). Skull, from the Zoological Society’s collection. 1870.| DR. MURIE ON AN GSTRUS FROM THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 77 III. The beak of the skull from the notch rather shorter than from the notch to the condyle, depressed, flat above, gradually tapering in front; the width at the notch two-thirds of the entire length of the beak. Lower jaw slender, narrow and thin in front. FERESA. §. Orca INTERMEDIA. Orca intermedia, Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 283; Zool. Erebus and Terror, p. 34, tab. 8 (skull). Hab. ? This is the skull of a very small species of the genus. It is evidently one of a full-grown animal, and yet it is not so large as the skull of a newly born specimen of the other species. Mr. Flower, judging from the figure, believed it to be the skull of a very young animal; but on examining the skull along with me he became satis- fied, from the solidity and definite form of the bones, that it is the skull of a full-grown though not aged specimen. This skull has many resemblances to the skull of some of the species of Electra; the teeth are much smaller than those of Orca. The following are the measurements of the different skulls of the genus in the collection of the British Museum; they are carefully taken with calipers by Mr. Edward Gerrard. O. stenorhyncha. hips saa O. pacifica. packed 3616. | d6le. |1065d,¢.| 361 a. 1065 a. 362 a. 7 Ee site i in. lin.) in. lin.} in. lin.}in. lin.| in. lin. | in, lin. en rom end of nasa or & : “ Eatin of occipital condyle iSO OBA s0H83 VO) B65 By deed Length of nose ............ 17 6/18 6/22 6117 0} 18 0 | 7 O of tooth-line ........ 13 6/14 0/16 0/138 O} 14 6 | 4 9 of lower jaw ........ 27 6)30 0/31 0/26 O| 29 6 }1l 38 Breadth at the notch ....... 10 6/11 O}12 0/10 O; 12 6} 4 9 at the orbit ........ 18 0;19 6/20 0/18 O}; 21 0] 8 6 —at temple above ..../18 0/19 6/20 0/18 0} 20 0] 9 O —at middle of beak....| 9 0);10 O}11 0} 9 6) 10 0] 3 6 —-—— at intermaxillaries ..| 3 3] 3 3/ 4 6} 3 3] 3 6] 0 9 ——_—s— 7. On a Larval Gstrus found in the Hippopotamus. By James Muriz, M.D., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c., Prosector to the Society. Neither in the comprehensive ‘ Monographie der Mstriden’ of Frederich Brauer (Vienna, 1863), nor in the writings of others who have treated of species of the Gstrid family of Diptera, in the larval or imago state, do I find any mention that the Hippopotamus occa- sionally serves as a nidus for the immature insect. For this reason I place the following observation of such a case on record. A number of the orders of Mammalia are subjects whereon or 78 DR. MURIE ON AN G&STRUS FROM THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. [Jan. 27, within the bodies of which the ova of CEstridz are reared, and none more frequently so than the Artiodactyla. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that the Hippopotamus, belonging to this group, should be so troubled. During two years’ sojourn in the countries bordering the Upper White Nile, our party met with and shot at innumerable Hippopo- tami; but only in two instances were the animals with certainty killed and the bodies secured. As may easily be understood, when- ever Hippopotami are seen in the river within range, they are fired at by the voyagers; consequently the animals are shy. Most often under cover of night do they freely snort, and approach close to the vessels. When shot at or hit they quickly disappear ; so it is diffi- cult to tell whether they have received a mortal wound or not. I may further incidentally mention that I have partaken of the flesh, which is beef-like in fibre, but sweeter to the taste. It is peculiar in containing a vast amount of watery or sanguineo-serous element. Thus on being cooked it shrinks very much, and when dried in the sun in strips diminishes in volume in a most extraordinary manner. The adult Hippopotamus from which the grub in question was extracted was killed in the river Ayi, near Wayo, in Moro, lat. 4° 46'N. and long. 30° 26’ 20” E., on the 30th January, 1863. It was the day following ere the body was recovered, it having floated some little distance down stream from where it was shot. The cra- nium in a rough condition alone was brought to camp, the entrails and flesh of the body having been cut up piecemeal and carried off by the Negroes. Whilst ridding the skull of parts liable to decom- pose I dissected out both eyes, and among the fatty and fibrous tissues of the left orbit was surprised to find a large maggot. For the moment I was inclined to regard it as the produce of a Blowfly, and was amazed at what seemed the excessively rapid growth of the Blowfly’s ova; for the Hippopotamus at this time had not been slain above forty hours. More extended examination of the parts, however, convinced me this could not be the case, as the larva was solitary, situated deeply within the orbit, and differed materially from the common maggot. I thereupon made sketches of the specimen, of the natural size ; and these have been reproduced in the accompanying figures. Larva from the orbit of Hippopotamus. Nat. size. A. Upper view. B. Abdominal surface. C. Anal extremity. The characters may be given as undernoted. Colour yellowish white. Body cylindrical, tapering obtusely at 1870.] DR. MURIE ON AN GSTRUS FROM THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 79 either end. Extreme long diameter 0°9 inch, and its greatest trans- verse one (3 inch. Some ten or more slightly raised ridges surround the body ; ventrally these are covered with short fine hairs or sete. On the abdominal surface, close to the head, are two hooklets, by which the animal fixes itself to the flesh. There are two prominent black spots at the anal extremity, beneath these a lip-like projection (the anus), the lower part of which has minute spines; and in this view (C) two nipple-like limbs stand out on each side. Herr Brauer, /. ¢. p. 276, has given a very useful tabular statement of the various orders, families, and species of mammals in which Cistrid larvee have been found. There is added to each mammalian species the name of the insect, and the part of the body where it was located. Throughout the work there is a full detail of the history, synonyms, &c. of the species ; and a copious résumé of the literature on the subject precedes the descriptive text. From his classified Table the subjoined list is drawn ; but the pre- sent arrangement is altered, and the orders, genera, and species of mammals adapted to our Society’s ‘ List of Vertebrated Animals,’ for 1866. Some of the common names have been taken from Dr. Gray’s Catalogue of Mammalia in the British Museum, 1843. The object, then, of the following list is to call the attention of anatomists at home, naturalists, sportsmen, Fellows of the Society, and others abroad to the circumstance that any larvee found by them in cutting up or skinning animals other than those here given, per- chance may belong to a species of insect new to science. At all events every observation must add to a better knowledge of the life- history of those already known. Whilst entomologists have acquaintance with the imago insect, they often lack information as to the larval form, which those en- gaged in different pursuits might supply. List of Mammals in which Qstri larve have been found. BIMANa. Man. Homo sapiens, L. QUADRUMANA. Monkeys. Stmie platyrrhine, genus et sp.? CARNIVORA. Domestic Dog. Canis familiaris, L. Striped Hyena. Hyena striata, Zimm. Jaguar. Felis onca, L. Common Badger. Meles taxus, Schreb. RopeEnNTIA. Brazilian Squirrel. Sciurus estuans, Linn. Squirrel. Sczurus aureogaster, Cuv. Hackee. Scturus (Tamias) lysteri, Ray. 80 DR. MURIE ON AQUILA BARTHELEMYI. [Jan. 27, Marsh-Hare. Lepus palustris, Bachman. Hare. Lepus, sp? Sadajac. Lagomys alpinus, Desm. Fur-country Pouched Rat. Saccophorus borealis, Rich. ARTIODACTYLA. Common Camel. Camelus dromedarius, L. Domestic Sheep. Ovis aries, L. Siberian Wild Sheep. Caprovis argali (Pall.). Domestic Goat. Capra hircus, L. Wild Goat. Capra egagrus, Gm. Sassaby. Acronotus lunatus, Burch. Riet Bok. Heleotragus reduncus, H. Smith. Gazelle. Gazella dorcas, L. Saiga Antelope. Saiga tartarica, Pall. D’seren. Procapra gutturosa, Pall. White-tailed Gnu. Catoblepas gnu, Gm. Brindled Gnu. Catoblepas gorgon, H. Smith. Domestic Ox. Bos taurus, L. Cape Buffalo. Bubalus caffer, Sparr. Moose or Elk. Cervus alces, L. Red Deer. C. elaphus, L. Fallow Deer. C. dama, L. Mule Deer. C. macrotis, Say. Roebuck. C. capreolus, L. Reindeer. Rangifer tarandus, L. Musk-deer. Moschus moschiferus, L. Hippopotamus. H. amphibius, L. PERISSODACTYLA. Common Horse. Equus caballus, L. Domestic Ass. £. asinus, L. The Mule. £. mulus. Two-horned Rhinoceros. Rhinoceros bicornis, L. Burchell’s Rhinoceros. R&R. simus, Burch. MarsupIALiA. Opossum. Didelphys philander, L. 8. Note on a Specimen of Aquila barthelemyi recently living in the Society’s Gardens. By James Muniz, M.D., Prosector to the Society. The following letter from Mr. Gurney to me explains itself. I shall only preface a memorandum on the receipt and disposal of the specimen as far as the Society is concerned. The example of Aquila barthelemyi, Jaub., referred to was obtained 1870.] DR. J. C. COX ON NEW LAND SHELLS. 81 from St. Victoire, France. It was purchased by the Society 30th April, 1866, and died 13th November, 1869. It proved to be a male on dissection. The specitic wing-markings being absent when the body was received by me, I thought proper to place it in Mr. George Gray’s hands for identification, This gentleman pronounced it, as appearing to him, no other than A. chrysaétos, Linn. The skin, being in poor condition, was not kept ; but the skeleton was retained by him for the National Osteological Collection. In case that any doubts might hereafter arise regarding the specimen, I considered that the history of the bird should be attached to the skeleton as well as published. Mr. Gurney coincided with me in this opinion, and at my request kindly forwarded the accompanying note for that purpose. “ Noy. 24, 1869. “My Dear Sir,—You will find in the volume of the ‘Ibis’ for 1864, p. 339, the account of two young specimens of 4. barthelemyi which came into my possession in 1857, and the survivor of which six or seven years afterwards obtained the white scapular spots which are found close to the junction of the wing with the body in the Eagle to which the above name has been assigned. “These marks were very beautiful and conspicuous when I wrote the paper in the ‘Ibis’ above referred to; but subsequently to the specimen passing into the hands of the Zoological Society in 1866, they seem to have disappeared, and I conclude from what you tell me that they were not apparent in the bird at the time of death. “I doubt much whether Aguila barthelemyi be a race entitled to specific rank, but whatever it be, the bird in question which passed from my possession to that of the Zoological Society, and of which the skeleton is now in the British Museum, undoubtedly belongs to it, and is entitled to the name of 4. barthelemyi, if that name be recognized as of specific value. “Tam, &e., “J. H. Gurney.” 9. Descriptions of Seventeen New Species of Land Shells from the South-Sea Islands, in the Cabinet of Mr. Joun Brazier of Sydney. By Dr. James C. Cox, C.M.Z.S. 1. Hevirx ALLecta. Shell with a deep open funnel-shaped umbilicus, depressedly orbi- cular, thin, uniformly closely and strongly striated, the strize of a dull, dark-reddish chestnut-colour ; spire flat; whorls 43 to 5, con- vex, the last not descending in front; suture deep and excavated ; aperture rounded ; peristome simple, obtuse, columellar margin di- lated. Diam., greatest 0°10, least 0°08 ; height 0-04 of an inch. Hab. Upolu, Navigator’s Islands ; found on the mountains, under decayed wood (Brazier). Proc. Zoox. Soc.—1870, No, VI. 82 DR. J. C. COX ON NEW LAND SHELLS. {Jan. 27, 2. HEeLIx WANGANENSIS. Shell perforated, depressed, thin, hyaline, smooth, and shining, of an amber-brown colour; spire almost flat ; whorls 5, flattened, very slowly increasing in size, last not depressed, rounded at the base; suture strongly marked; aperture lunate; peristome simple, thin; columella dilated, concealing the slight perforation. Diam., greatest 0°31, least 0°21; height 0°22 of an inch. Hab. Wanga, San Christoval, Solomon Islands; on the mountains, under leaves (Brazier). 3. HELIX QUINTALA. Shell imperforate, lenticular, greenish yellow, thin, transparent, flattened above ; whorls 8, slowly increasing, the last sharply keeled, not descending in front, base rounded and excavated in the middle, irregularly rugosely striated above, smooth below the keel; suture shallow, but rather broad; aperture narrowly angularly lunate ; peristome simple; columella scarcely dilated. Diam., greatest 0°14, least 0°12; height 0-08 of an inch. Hab. Norfolk Island; found in the pine-forests, under leaves in damp places (Brazier). This species is closely allied to H. lizardensis, Pfr., and, at Mr. Brazier’s request, is named in honour of Mr. Arthur Quintala, jun., of Norfolk Island. 4. Hewix HELVA. Shell flattened, deeply and widely umbilicated, pale red, uniformly striated with coarse, regular, rather widely separated rib-like striz ; whorls 43 to 5, rounded, the last descending gradually in front ; aperture lunately rounded, margins joined by a dark callus; peri- stome obtuse, not reflected. Diam., greatest 0°10, least 0°08 ; height 0:04 of an inch. Hab. Aneiteum, New Hebrides; found under a log of wood (Brazier). 5. Hewrx arbDuA. Shell minutely umbilicated, turbinately globose, yellowish brown, thin, smooth, slightly shining; spire obtusely conical; whorls 6, markedly convex, the last not descending in front; base rounded ; suture deep; aperture roundly lunate; peristome simple, somewhat expanded at the columella. Diam., greatest 0°12, least 0°10; height 0°11 of an inch. Hab. Erumanga, New Hebrides; found under a log of wood near the sea. 6. HELIX VANNZE-LAVE. Shell imperforate, conoidly depressed, dark yellowish horn-colour, smooth, shining ; spire broadly conoid ; whorls 54, only slightly con- vex, last not descending, base convex; suture shallow; aperture 1870.] DR. J. C. COX ON NEW LAND SHELLS. 83 lunate ; peristome thin, simple, columellar margin a little dilated above. Diam., greatest 0°14, least 0:12; height 0-11 of an inch. Hab. Aneiteum, New Hebrides ; found under decaying leaves near the sea-shore (Brazier). 7. Hewrx sororia. Shell imperforate, depressedly globose, thin, smooth, shining, throughout light olive-yellow; spire slightly elevated; whorls 5, moderately convex, slowly increasing in size, last not descending in front, base rounded, narrowly margined at the suture; aperture ovately rounded ; peristome simple, columellar margin only slightly dilated. Diam., greatest 0°15, least 0°13 ; height 0-09 of an inch. Hab. Ovalau, Fiji Islands ; found under leaves on the mountains (Brazier). 8. Heuix sANSITUs. Shell conical, narrowly umbilicated, regularly spirally striated, striz slightly raised and granular, thin, light brown; spire raised and pointed; whorls 6, gradually increasing, the last sharply and prominently keeled, flattened at the base, which is also granularly spirally striated ; peristome simple, thin. Diam., greatest 0°11, Jeast 0°10; height 0-09 of an inch. Hab. Vanna Lava, Banks’s Group ; found inland, under decayed leaves in very wet places; also found at Viti Levu, Fiji, inland, in similar localities (Brazier). 9. HELIX EXAGITANS. Shell plano-convex, flat above, convex below, deeply and openly umbilicated, pale brown-yellow, upper surface irregularly finely stri- ated across the whorls; whorls 5, rapidly increasing, last not de- pressed in front, sharply keeled ; peristome simple, thin. Diam., greatest 0:09, least 0°06; height 0:04 of an inch. Hab. Norfolk Island; found in damp places in the pine-forests, under leaves (Brazier). 10. Hewix TUTUILLA. Shell depressedly conical, imperforate, of a dull pale brown, above finely granular, smooth and shining below ; spire conical, obtuse ; whorls 5, rounded, slowly increasing in size, last not depressed, not keeled, base rounded ; suture broad and channelled ; peristome thin, roundly lunate. Diam., greatest 0°12, least 0°10; height 0°09 of an ineh. Hab. Tutuilla, Navigator’s Islands ; found in wet places, under leaves, near the sea (Brazier). 11. HeLrx ANTELATA,. Shell depressedly conical, perforated, dull reddish brown, smooth ; 84 DR. J. C. COX ON NEW LAND SHELLS. [ Jan. 27, spire obtuse, suture narrow, not excavated; whorls 5, last whorl inflated at the base, and excavated round the perforation ; . peri- stome simple, thin, columellar margin dilated at its insertion. Diam., greatest 0-12, least 0°10; height 0-10 of an inch. Hab. Aneiteum, New Hebrides; found under leaves near the sea (Brazier). 12. Hewix PATESCENS. Shell imperforate, globosely depressed, thin, transparent, pale straw-coloured, shining, finely rugosely striated; spire conically raised; whorls 32 to 4, the last rapidly increasing, much inflated at the base, and banded with a faint broad brown band; aperture oblique ; peristome simple, thin, rounded. Diam., greatest 0°16, least 0°12; height 0°12 of an inch. Hab. Norfolk Island, under leaves in damp places (Brazier). 13. Hewix DEPSTA. Deeply, rather widely, and openly umbilicated, discoid, thin, light yellowish brown; spire almost flat, suture well defined ; whorls 43, roughly arcuately striated above, much smoother below, slowly in- creasing in size, the last very slightly angled and a little depressed at its termination ; aperture oblique, lunately rounded ; peristome simple, not thickened, columellar margin not expanded. Diam., greatest 0°23, least 0°19; height 0-13 of an inch. Hab. Norfolk Island; under leaves in damp places (Brazier). 14. Hex RETARDATA. Shell deeply, openly, but narrowly umbilicated, thin, transparent, hyaline, pale horn-colour ; apex of spire raised ; whorls 5, gradually increasing, last not depressed, smooth and unsculptured ; peristome lunately rounded, columellar margin a little dilated and reflected. Diam., greatest 0°16, least 0°12; height 0-12 of an inch. Hab. Aneiteum, New Hebrides; found under dead leaves near to the sea-shore (Brazier). 15. DrrPLOMMATINA WISEMANI. Shell sinistral, callously rimate, elongately oval, pupiform, light yellowish brown ; apex acute ; whorls 5, very finely obliquely, closely, and regularly costulate, third and fourth becoming rapidly tumidly enlarged, last contracted and subascendent ; aperture subcircular, much expanded, thick, shining, and porcellaneous; margins joined by a thick expanded callus. Breadth 0°05, height 0°11 of an inch. Hab. Wanga, San Christoval, Solomon Isles (Brazier); found on the mountains, in damp places, under leaves. Named, by Mr. Brazier’s request, after Commodore Wiseman. 16. DiIpLOMMATINA BRAZIERI. Shell rimate, cylindrically acuminate, of a dull white colour ; spire 1870.] LIeEUT.-COL, PLAYFAIR ON A NEW FISH FROM ADEN. 85 acute ; whorls 63, regularly increasing, crossed by rather prominent, straight, widely separated ribs, the last contracted and ascendent ; aperture ovately circular, thick, callous, and shining ; margins formed by a thick callus continuous with the aperture, Breadth 0-04, height 0-08 of an inch. Hab. Wanga, San Christoval, Solomon Islands; found on the mountains, in damp places (Brazier). 17. CycLosToMA BRAZIERI. Shell pyramidal ; spire acute and elevated, apex rose-red ; whoris 5, round, under the lens very faintly spirally striated, dark cinnamon- colour ; suture deep ; umbilicus deep and narrow; aperture circular ; peristome plain, scarcely thickened. Operculum solid, very concave outwardly, with prominent circular ridges. Breadth 0°13, height 0°16. Hab. Upolu, Navigator’s Islands ; found on the mountains, under decaying logs (Brazier). 10. Note on a Freshwater Fish from the Neighbourhood of Aden. By Lieut.-Col. Prayrair, F.Z.S., H.M. Consul- General in Algeria. I am indebted to the kindness of my successor at Aden, Captain Goodfellow, for several specimens of a Cyprinoid fish recently disco- vered in South Arabia. During all the years I resided there I never heard of its existence, and I was fully convinced that the streams of that region, which are almost if not entirely dry in summer, and which even in the cold season are lost in the sand before reaching the sea, were destitute of fishes. Not long ago the Sultan of Lahej, whose territories touch Aden, and of which, indeed, the latter once formed a part, sent to the Political Resident a jar of fishes, which he had caught in one of his streams, and which he suggested should be put into the ancient reservoirs, recently restored, and then full of rain-water. This was done, and in a very short time the fishes increased both in number and size; and it is of these that Capt. Goodfellow for- warded the specimens before mentioned. I was at first inclined to regard it as a new species of Discogna- thus, chiefly from the fact that it has four and a half series of scales between the lateral line and the root of the ventral fin, whereas the only other known species nearly resembling it had but two or two and a half. My friend Dr. Ginther, however, who has compared it with numerous specimens of D. lamta in the National collection from various localities between Nepaul and Palestine, has no doubt that it is referable to that remarkable species. 86 THE SECRETARY ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. [Feb. 10, The following is a description of the specimens :— Height of body considerably more than length of head, which is one-fifth of the total length without caudal. Head depressed ; its width is five-sixths of its length ; eye very small; interorbital space half the length of the head; width of mouth less than that of in- terorbital space ; labial disk well developed. Barbels four in number, the upper nearly double the diameter of theeye. Four and a half longitudinal series of scales between the lateral line and the root of the ventral. Pectoral as long as head, terminating at about its own length be- fore root of ventral. Caudal deeply emarginate, lobes equal. Colour silvery, darker above ; a black spot behind upper end of gill-opening; tip of snout blackish; no lateral band; no darker spot at base of caudal. Length 5 inches. February 10, 1870. John Gould, Esq., F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. The Secretary called the attention of the Meeting to the following additions to the Menagerie during the month of January :-— 1. A specimen of the Great Northern Diver (Colymbus glacialis), captured in Cornwall, and presented to the Society by A. R. Hunt, Esq., January 6th. The bird, which was believed to be the first specimen of the species ever obtained by the Society alive, had been rather shy at first, but had been gradually induced to feed, and now seemed likely to do well. It appeared to be a bird of the year. 2. A small Armadillo, purchased January 15th of Mr. E. Paddi- son. This Armadillo, which Mr. Sclater referred with some doubt to the Little Armadillo (Dasypus minutus), was stated to have been captured on the eastern slope of the Andes of La Plata, at an ele- vation of 3000 feet, in 35° 15'S. lat. 3. Five Brown Tritons (Geotriton fuscus), from the vicinity of Spezia in Italy, purchased January 22nd, and believed to be the first specimens of this Batrachian exhibited in the Society’s collection. 4. A female Potto ( Perodicticus potto), purchased January 24th, making a pair of this scarce Lemurine form now living in the So- ciety’s collection. The Secretary likewise reported that Mr. G. S. Rodon had pre- sented to the Society the survivor of the two White-handed Gibbons (Hylobates lar) which he had deposited in the Society’s Gardens on the 17th of November last—and that since the death of its fellow this animal had been placed in the same cage as the Hoolock Gibbon (Hylobates hoolock), presented by Mr. Grote, so that the two species might now be seen and compared together. A drawing (Plate V.) was exhibited, representing these two animals. 1870.] LETTER FROM MR. W. H. HUDSON. a7 The following letter, addressed to the Secretary by Mr. William H. * oe Hudson*, was read : “Buenos Ayres, Dec. 14, 1869. ** My pear Sir,—Probably I shall not be able to send any more birds to the Smithsonian Institution. The specimens I may find leisure to collect can be disposed of in Buenos Ayres; but should I meet with any thing new I will forwaid it to the Zoological Society of London. I was well pleased with your favour of November 9th, expressing your desire to see my notes on the birds I have collected ; and should this letter and others I shall shortly send contain any thing of interest I shall be glad. “Though the pampas of this part of the republic are all but en- tirely bare of trees, the swampy margins of the Rio de la Plata are covered with an almost impenetrable thicket from two to four miles in width. In this wood neither the thorny Curumamnel nor the gigantic Ambu, that flourish on the open plains, are found; but its trees and shrubs and many of its herbs are natives of the northern states of La Plata, the Chaco, and Paraguay. The seeds have been brought from those countries by the river, or on the Camalote—a species of water-lily that grows round the islands of the Parana and its tributaries. These plants accumulate on the water year by year till they form vast floating islands, and are ultimately torn from their moorings by the floods, carried hundreds of miles down the river, and stranded on its low shores. These migratory islands bring with them not only the seeds of northern vegetation, but colonies of in- sects, reptiles, and other animals. I have known the Cierno, Jaguar, Aquard, and Carpincho, and other large mammals, also large Ser- pents and Alligators, to have been thus brought down and landed within a few miles of the city of Buenos Ayres. Such large animals soon disappear; but smaller ones remain, so that in this forest Snakes and Batrachians are found of different species from those of the neighbouring plains—also insects, whose great size and gaudy colours prove their northern origin. The reptiles maintain their existence apparently within narrow limits; but many of the insects (particularly the Lepidoptera) become widely distributed, and show, by the dimmer colours and diminished size of many individuals, the modifying influences of climate and other physical conditions. The strips of vegetation stretching so far into this country from the northern wooded regions have also greatly promoted the distribution of birds. “There are but a very few species of true ‘ Pampas-birds.’ This name I apply to Anthus correndera, Centrites niger, the Red-breasted Lark (Tenioptera), and all those kinds especially adapted to the conditions of the Pampa. These species avoid trees, and find their subsistence, roost, and breed on the ground. But the woody fringe to the river above mentioned has served as a grand highway by which most of our small birds have been introduced into this country. * See articles by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin on Mr. Hudson’s collections (P. Z. 8. 1868, p. 137, 1869, p. 158 and p. 631), and Mr. Hudson’s letter (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 432). - 88 LETTER FROM MR. W. H. HUDSON. | Feb. 10, Thus the nearer we apprvach to this wood the more numerous do these species become, while in the wood itself, narrow as it is, there are many species never met with elsewhere. Possibly as many as two-thirds of all the species inhabiting Buenos Ayres are to be found within its limits. “J obtained here many specimens of the Cuckoo to which you have called my attention (Coccyzus cinereus). This bird was ori- ginally discovered in Paraguay, and is considered by Dr. Burmeister to be arare species. Perhaps it has but recently found its way to this country. Last summer (1868) I met with it for the first time ; and the same year the first and only specimen ever in the museum of this city was obtained. Even within my recollection many birds and insects once seldom met with have become common. Some of our large Wasps, Weevils, and Butterflies have not been with us long; and whole orchards are at present being destroyed by the Capricorn Beetle—an insect totally unknown a few years ago. “To return to the Coccyzus cinereus; the large blood-red eye of this bird, contrasting well with the soft bluish colour of the plumage, gives it a most interesting appearance. I have not yet succeeded in finding its nest. Like the common Cuckoo, it is retiring in its habits, concealing itself in the densest foliage; but it cannot be attracted like the other species by mimicking its call. It has a song (which it will sometimes repeat at short intervals for half a day) like the mourning of our little Dove, being a succession of long and plaintive notes. It has, besides, a different note—loud, harsh, and sudden, so much resembling the ery of another bird (the Anabates /ophotes) that I have been frequently deceived by it. “ of an inch; and an independent measurement by Professor Flower and Mr. Moseley made them closely of the same size. The extreme sizes observed by me were <2, and =, of an inch. And thus, with this animal, the Ibex, Brocket-deer, and Tragulus, my observa- tions show that we have three or four genera at present known with blood-disks smaller than those of the Goat. Though these corpuscles of Moschus moschiferus are so small as at once to declare the Ruminant order to which this animal belongs, they may be seen at a glance to be at least a third larger than those of Tragulus, and little more than half the size of the blood-disks of Cervus alces. And how close is the correspondence in this respect 94 MR. GULLIVER ON THE BLOOD-coRPUSCLES. [Feb. 10, between these corpuscles of Moschus moschiferus and those of Cer- vus nemorivagus will appear by a comparison of fig. 2 in the above woodcut with fig. 7 in the ‘ Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society above cited. In M. moschiferus uone of the blood-corpuscles pre- sented those curious and irregular shapes which I have described and figured in certain Cervidee (Lond. and Edin. Phil. Mag. Nov. 1840, and Proc. Zool. Soc. Feb. 25, 1862, fig. 7). Tragulus.—The average diameter of the blood-disks of T. javani- : : 1 . . 1 cus and T. meminna 18 x35; of an inch, and the extreme sizes Ties and 5656 of an inch; and of 7. stanleyanus the average size of the corpuscles is a of an inch. These measurements of the smallest known blood-disks of Mammalia are here quoted from my Tables for comparison. Orycteropus capensis.—Not long after the death of the true Musk- deer died an Orycteropus and Ailurus; and I am also indebted to Prof. Flower for an opportunity of examining the blood of these two animals. We made a cursory examination together of their blood- disks, and easily saw that those of Orypteropus were much the largest. But the power of the instrument then used was insufficient, and I completed the examination at home. After my discovery of the large size of the red blood-corpuscles of Myrmecophaga and Bradypus (Proc. Zool. Soc. June 11, 1844, and Jan. 24, 1854), the similar magnitude of the corresponding cor- puscles of Orycteropus was expected ; and they are certainly among the largest known in Mammalia. From many measurements the average diameter of the red blood-corpuscles of Orycteropus capensis proves to be no less than 3,55 of an inch, with many gradations between the few two extremes of one-third smaller and one-third larger than the average size. Such varieties of size are common in the blood-disks of single species throughout the Vertebrate subkingdom. The red blood-corpuscles of Orycteropus are so nearly of the same size as those of the Elephant and Myremecophaga that it would be difficult to distinguish these three animals by their blood-disks, as will appear by comparing fig. 4 of the above woodcut with figs. 6 and 9 in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for Feb. 25, 1862. Ailurus fulgens.—The average size of the blood-disks is 4757 of an inch, thus nearly corresponding with those of Procyon, Nasua, and Meles; but its next neighbour, Cercoleptes, in the zoological systems, has blood-disks so much smaller as to indicate that it may be but an aberrant member of that family which includes Adlurus. Import and Relations of the Size of the red Blood-corpuscles.— Previously to my researches it was commonly said, after Hewson, that the size of the blood-disks has no relation to that of the species—and truly, if regard be had only to such different animals as the Mouse and Horse. But my measurements clearly proved that there is so far such a relation in Mammalia of one natural order or family that the smallest blood-disks occur in the small species and the largest blood-disks in the large species of that order or family. Among Rodents, e. g., I discovered the largest blood-disks in the great 1870.] MR. GULLIVER ON THE BLOOD-CORPUSCLES, 95 Capybara, and the smallest in the tiny Harvest-mouse ; while in the whole class of Birds the rule in this respect, in conformity with the comparative uniformity of their general organization, proved to be like that rule for a single order of Mammalia. .On the contrary, with such greater divergences of general organization as occur in Reptiles and Fishes there are corresponding diversities in the blood- disks. And the present observations conform to this view as to the size of the red blood-corpuscles in a mammalian order. Among Ruminants the woodcut shows these corpuscles smallest in the diminutive Tra- gulus, larger but still small in the bigger Moschus, with much increase of size in the great Moose-deer. And they are largest of all in the biggest Edentata, so that this order is now proved to be characterized by larger blood-disks than have yet been found in as many different genera of any other order of Mammalia. In many species of different orders there may be such a near ap- proximation in the size of the corpuscles as to make them worthless as diagnostics between one order and another. For example, some of the larger Ruminants could not be distinguished by this character from several Fere. In the Seal, indeed, these corpuscles are about the same size as in Man, and only slightly smaller in the Otter and Dogs; but in the Paradorures and Viverras the blood-disks are not larger than in the Wapiti, Elk, and Sambur Deer, and in the Au- rochs and other Oxen. But in closely allied and true members of a single natural family the characters of the blood-disks, as already shown, may afford an excellent diagnostic between that and another family. In such a family the blood-disks are so much alike that their size, ceteris paribus, is only largest among the big species and smallest among the little species. Shortly after the discovery by M. Mandl of the oval shape of the red blood-corpuscles of the Dromedary and Paco, I confirmed it, and discovered that these corpuscles have the same shape in all the other members of this family—also that, notwith- standing tne oval figure of these blood-disks, they resemble those of other Ruminants in structure and size, and by no means approach in either of these respects to the oval corpuscles of pyrenzematous vertebrates (Med. Chir. Trans. Nov. 26, 1839, vol. xxiii.). But when the blood-disks of one species differ remarkably in size from those of several other species of a single natural family, that species, ceteris paribus, is likely to be an aberrant one in its general organization. All my observations support this view, as is exempli- fied by Hyrax capensis, Bassaris astuta, Cercoleptes caudivolvulus, and other Mammalia. And we have already seen that Moschus, if still included with Tragulus, would be an equally remarkable in- stance. Again, my discovery of the singular minuteness of the blood-disks of Tragulidze would indicate that this is really a distinct natural family, though I know not that we have any other group of equally small Ruminants for comparison. The opinion that the size of the blood-disks is connected with the kind of food on which the animal lives has never been confirmed. 96 MR. GULLIVER ON THE BLOOD-CoRPUSCLES. [Feb. 10, This is one of Professor Owen’s views,—a “ generalization”’ from a preposterous insufficiency of observations. After informing us that the rule is generally applicable to the placental and marsupial Mam- malia, he adds that, ‘the blood-disks of the marsupial species which derives its nourishment from the greatest variety of organized sub- stances, as the Perameles, which subsists on insects, worms, and the farinaceous and succulent vegetables, are larger than those of the (Spotted) carnivorous Dasyure, and those of the herbivorous Kan- garoo, the blood-disks of the latter, like those of the placental Ru- minant, being the smallest’? (Lond. Med. Gazette, Dec. 20, 1839, p. 475). How completely this view is at variance with the facts may be seen in my Tables of Measurements, of which he sometimes quotes the French translation by Prof. Milne-Edwards. The blood- disks are largest of all in the Elephant, a purely vegetable feeder, and in the Edentates, which do not subsist on the greatest variety of or- ganized substances ; while among Marsupials there are some species living on one kind of food, the Ursine Dasyure, e.g., that have larger blood-disks than those of the more omnivorous Perameles. They are larger in the piscivorous Seals and Otter than in the Pig, an animal well known to subsist on quite as great a variety of organized sub- stances as the Perameles ; while the blood-disks of the Pig are not larger than those of the Tapir, Rhinoceros, and Ass, three other Pachyderms and well-known vegetable feeders. And similar exam- ples are afforded by Birds and lower Vertebrates. No wonder, then, that a writer entertaining such opinions as to the food and blood-disks should embrace the additional error that their gradations of size are “ insignificant” or ‘‘ unimportant.” But, notwithstanding his conclusions, the truth is that this question of size is both significant and important. In systematic zoology we have already seen that the size of the corpuscles frequently affords a good diagnostic, both of one order from another and between genera or species of a single order or family; as I have more fully shown in the Appendix to Gerber’s ‘Anatomy,’ in the Notes to Hewson’s Works, in various numbers of the ‘ Philosophical Magazine’ from 1839-42, in the second volume of the ‘Journal of Anatomy,’ and still further in the ‘ Proceedings’ of the Zoological Society—with illustrative engravings in the volume for 1862 (p. 91), and in the ‘ Medical Times and Gazette’ from August 1862 to December 1863. And in a physiological point of view the size of the blood-disks is still more important and significant in relation to respiration and animal heat, as described in Lecture IX., reported in the ‘ Medical Times and Gazette’ for January 17, 1863, and in the abstract of an- other of my lectures in ‘Scientific Opinion’ for December 8, 1869. Indeed a field of experimental inquiry is thus opened which will surely yield a rich harvest when properly cultivated. What, for example, is the precise relation of animal heat to the proportion of the whole blood to the body? What is the relation of that heat to the proportionate quantity or aggregate bulk of the blood-disks to the other parts of the blood? How far is the animal heat affected, ceteris paribus, by the size of the bload-disks? I know of no exact 1870. ] MR. GULLIVER ON THE BLOOD-CORPUSCLES, 97 experiments relating to these points, save the few valuable but frag- mentary ones of that eminent physiologist the late John Davy. In short, the relation of animal heat to the size and proportion of the red corpuscles of the blood still requires an ample and careful set of experiments. From all that is at present known it appears that, ceteris paribus, the smaller these corpuscles the greater will be the heat of the animal, since a minute subdivision of a given bulk of them will afford a corresponding increase of their aggregate surface for the transit of oxygen. The comparative smallness of the blood-disks of the diminutive species of a family of Mammals and of the class of Birds may be a provision against the greater proportionate loss of heat in the little members of such family or class. Dr. Davy has shown that warm-blooded fishes have a large pro- portion of blood and red corpuscles, while that proportion is remark- ably less in fishes that are but little warmer than the water in which they live. And to this excellent observer we are indebted for precise experiments on the increase of the heat in Man when the circulation of the blood is hastened through the lungs and body. The warmth of the Python during incubation at the Society’s Gardens, as shown by the important observations of Dr. Sclater (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p- 365), was probably due to accelerated circulation of the blood, and increased chemical action connected therewith, as in a fever. In one of his interesting experiments, Dr. Sclater found the temperature of the female Python as high as 96°, and of her male mate 76°, while the air of their den was only 60°. Such facts, with Dr. Davy’s discovery of the regular warmth of certain Fishes, as much invalidate Prof. Owen’s distinction of “‘ Heematocrya”’ and ‘‘ Heematotherma,”’ as, according to his statement, the air-cavity of the humerus of the Pterodactyle ‘breaks down” Cuvier’s distinction of Birds from Lizards by the air-passages in the bones. Historical Notices.—The records of discovery concerning the constituents and properties of the blood make but a sorry chapter in its written history, and one, indeed, that had better remained unwritten than overwhelmed, as it was, with confusion and injustice. In the Introduction and Notes to Hewson’s works, it was part of my duty to correct Prof. Owen’s contributions to such mistakes ; and I now regret that the common truth of a branch of physiological history and my own just claims still require vindication from his pretensions and the indiscreet zeal of his friends. The early tables of measurements by Prevost, Dumas, or others, exemplified the smallness of the blood-disks of Ruminants in those of the Sheep, Goat, or other members of the order. And the red blood-corpuscles of the Goat were the smallest known before my discovery, read at the Med. Chir. Soc. Nov. 26, 1839, of their singular minuteness in 7’ragulus ; while my measurements thereof, and of the blood-disks of the Camels and several other Ruminants, and of the Marsupials, were, as then noted by the Editor, commu- nicated to the ‘ Philosophical Magazine’ just three days previously. Yet these plain truths are always suppressed by Prof. Owen in order to support his own pretensions to the discovery and his amusing Pxtoc. Zoo. Soc.—1870, No. VII. 98 MR. GULLIVER ON THE BLOOD-CoRPUSCLES. [Feb. 10, declaration that “This generalization has not been affected by later observations.” He does not scruple to borrow without acknowledgment from my Tables of Measurements (Comp. An. ii. 184); though hinting more than once that they are “insignificant ’’ or ‘‘ unimportant,” and this under cover of references to the French translation of them by Milne- Edwards and not to my own original version. Indeed, to this illustrious physiologist Prof. Owen refers on this question, as both Milne-Edwards and his son Alphonse Milne- Edwards have been moved to make the emphatic assertion that the minuteness of the blood-disks of Tragulus was discovered by Prof. Owen. But this is a misstatement, as the very reference made in its behalf, to the ‘London Medical Gazette,’ 1839-40, will prove. A careful search throughout those volumes, not excepting the curious zoologico-anthropological characteristics in the ‘ Extra Limites,” vol. ii. p. 671*, will fail to find mention of more than a single Tra- gulus ; and that occurs, with his first notice of the blood of Camels, in the number for December 20, 1839: all the few measurements in that paper were by Mr. Bowerbank ; and “ Moschus pygmeus’’ is the only Tragulus mentioned therein. But, as Prof. Owen has long since well known, my observations on the minuteness of the blood-disks of Tragulus, on the shape and size of those of certain Camels, and on their structure in this whole family, were read, as before said, at a meeting of the Medico- Chirargical Society on the 26th of November previously, published in the 23rd volume of the Transactions of that Society, and, with my description of the same corpuscles of Marsupials, in the ‘ Dublin Medical Press’ of November 27, in the ‘London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine’ of December 1, all of the same year, and in several other periodical works either of the first day of December, or at least before the date of Prof. Owen’s paper. And of his ac- quaintance with my paper that had been read at the Medico-Chi- rurgical Society on the 26th of November, he has left published proof in a footnote to his own paper of the succeeding 20th of December, in which he quotes mine of the preceding 26th of No- vember as to the lymph-globules of Tragu/us and the Camels, but omits any notice of my description therein of the blood-disks of those animals ; only he says that the minuteness of the blood-disks of Mos- chus pygmeus is such as he “had anticipated ;” and so, no doubt, he had, with my published proof of that minuteness before him. In the foregoing notices an attempt has been made to assert the truth respecting a branch of physiological history to which the best part of my life has been devoted. Should it be supposed that I have now been influenced only by considerations personal to myself, I can but truly deny the imputation, and refer in proof to my published writings, im which quite as much zeal has been shown in defending the rights of Davies, Hewson, and others from unjust aggression as I have here exercised in behalf of my own just claims. Had private persons been the authors of the errors now corrected, they might have passed, like several similar ones, without notice ; but Professor 1870. ] ON THE FRESHWATER FISHES OF BURMAH. 99 Milne-Edwards is one of the most eminent comparative anatomists and physiologists in Europe, and Professor Owen is the Superin- tendent of the Natural-History Departments of the British Museum. 3. On the Freshwater Fishes of Burmah. By Francis Day, F.Z.S., F.L.S8.—Part II.* OpHIOCEPHALUS AUROLINEATUS, Sp. Nov. 6 D. 53. P.18. V.6. A. 36. C.14. L. 1. 66. L. tr. 7. Length of head nearly 7, of caudal ;%;, height of body +%, of the total length. Diameter of eves 4 of length of head, 1 diameter from end of snout, 17 diameter apart. The posterior extremity of the maxilla extends to below the pos- terior margin of the orbit. Thirteen rows of scales between the orbit and the angle of the preopercle. Shields on top of head of moderate size. Teeth numerous, villiform, in jaws, vomer, and palate. Colour dark purplish black, with an orange stripe commencing at the snout and passing through the eye along the side and above the lateral line to the upper half of the tail. Hab. One specimen, 354; inches, was taken at Moulmein. Although the natives asserted it to be a common species, a second specimen was not obtained. It may prove to be the young of the O. marulius, H. B., from which, however, it appears to differ considerably. LABEO NEILLI, sp. nov. B.ifi. D. oy. P.15. V.9. A. 2/5. C.19. L134. L. tr. ze Length of head nearly 4, of caudal 3, height of body #?, of dorsal fin 4 of the total length. Eyes. Diameter # of length of head, 13 diameter from end of snout, 2 diameters apart. Snout rounded and smooth, it scarcely overlaps the mouth, which is of moderate width; no lateral lobe; lips thin, only slightly re- flected, they are both fringed with two, three, or more rows of well- developed puapillee internal to the outer fringe. The rostral barbels do not reach the orbit ; the maxillary extend to beneath its centre. Body compressed. Fins. The dorsal arises before the ventral, and much nearer the snout than the base of the caudal, which latter is deeply forked. Upper margin of dorsal slightly concave. Teeth pharyngeal, 5, 4, 3/3, 4, 5, plough-shaped. Scales. Four and a half rows between lateral line and the base of the ventral fin. Gill-rakers very short. * For Part I. see P. Z. 8. 1869, p. 614. 100 ON THE FRESHWATER FISHES OF BURMAH. [Feb. 10, Colours. Greyish yellow, darkest above, every scale having a dark spot at its base. Fins yellowish orange; dorsal darkest in its lower half, a darkish spot near the root of the caudal fin, and another, ill- defined one at the commencement of the lateral line. Hab. Sittoung and Billing, whence I procured seven specimens up to six inches in length. I have named the species after my esteemed correspondent A. B. Neill, Esq., F.Z.S. Barsus (BARBODES) STEVENSONII, sp. nov. B. iii. D. 3/9. P.17. V.9. A.3/5. C.19. L.1. 27. L. tr. 43/5. Length of head 2, of caudal nearly 7, height of body § of the total length. Eyes. Diameter 2 of length of head, 1 diameter from end of snout, 1 diameter apart. Body elongated, compressed. Dorsal profile but little elevatea. Interorbital space flat. Upper jaw longest. Maxillary barbels extending to below the posterior margin of the orbit; the rostral ones are shorter. Fins. The dorsal arises before the ventral, and midway between the snout and the base of the caudal; its third undivided ray is smooth, weak, and articulated in its whole extent ; the fin is slightly lower than the body. Caudal forked. Scales. Two and a half rows between the lateral line and base of the ventral fin. Colours. Silvery ; a black spot at the base of the caudal. Hab. Akyab. Given to me by Col. Stevenson amongst several other species; and I have named it after its discoverer. Barsus (Punrius) puntio, H. B. B. iii. D. 3/8. P.15. V.9. A. 2/5. C.21. L.1. 23. L. tr. 4/4. Length of head 3, of caudal 2, height of body nearly 3 of the total length. Eyes. Diameter 2 of length of head, ? of a diameter from end of snout, 1 diameter apart. Mouth small, destitute of barbels. Dorsal profile rises to the origin of the dorsal fin. Fins. Dorsal commencing midway between the anterior margin of the orbit and the base of the caudal, rather in advance of the ven- trals; its third undivided ray is smooth, weak, and articulated. Caudal deeply forked. Lateral line incomplete, only extending along a few scales. Two rows and a half of scales between it and the base of the ventral fin. Colours. Silvery ; a deep wide black band encircles the free por- tion of the tail, and includes the tip of the anal. Dorsal fin orange tipped with black. Hab. Five specimens captured at Sittoung. I have redescribed the species, as its existence has been doubted, apparently not having been taken since Hamilton Buchanan’s time. PZ. 3.1870. PL VEL => 056% AT Hollick del? et lth. New species of Idiops. 1870.] REV. 0. P. CAMBRIDGE ON THE GENUS IDIOPS. 101 SEMIPLOTUS MODESTUS, sp. nov. ene 19.74/20 P15:)*V, 9. Ae /6.- CF 1927 LT. 52-34. L. tr. 73/73. Length of head 2, of caudal 2, height of body nearly 4 of the total length. Eyes. Diameter + of length of head, 1 diameter from end of snout, 14 diameter apart. Snout broad, obtuse, with several open pores on either side. Mouth transverse, inferior. The posterior extremity of the maxilla extends to beneath the middle of the orbit. No horny substance on the jaws. Lower jaw not covered by lip. A knob at the symphysis. Slight motion between the maxillary and intermaxillary bones. No barbels. Teeth pharyngeal, 4, 3, 2/2, 3, 4. Colours. Silvery, darkest in the upper half of the body. Ven- trals and anal tipped with orange. Hab. Hill-ranges of Akyab, whence Col. Stevenson procured for me two specimens, of 44 and 53 inches respectively in length. Remarks.—This species appears intermediate between the genera Semiplotus and Cyprinion; for it nearly agrees with the former in the slight motion of the upper jaw, absence of barbels, &c., whilst it likewise resembles the latter in having a serrated dorsal spine, although it has no horny edge to the lips or barbels. However, those two genera, with this intermediate species, appear to pass so naturally one into the other that I would suggest they should only be regarded as subgenera. 4. Monograph of the Genus Jdiops, including Descriptions of several Species new to Science. By the Rev. O. P. CAMBRIDGE. (Plate VIII.*) In publishing descriptions of new species of a little-known genus, it seemed a fit opportunity to incorporate with them the substance of what has already been made known upon the subject by Conti- nental arachnologists ; the present paper will therefore comprise the characters of the genus, and of the only two species of it hitherto known, in addition to the descriptions of the new species. The genus Idiops was first characterized (in 1830) by M. Perty (Del. An. Art. Bras. p. 197); but it appears to have been overlooked by Baron Walckenaer, who seems to have hastily concluded M. Perty’s spider to have been a species of the genus Sphasus (see Walck. Ins. Apt. tom. i. p. 379, Paris, 1837). It is surprising that Walcke- naer should not have recognized in M. Perty’s figures and lucid de- scription a species of a new and well-marked genus of the family * For description of this Plate, see the end of the supplementary paper on the same subject, below p. 157.—Eb. 102 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON THE GENUS IDI0Ps. [Feb. 10, Mygalides. Subsequently M. Guérin-Méneville (without any re- ference at all to the genus established by M. Perty) founded the genus Acanthodon upon another Spider, undoubtedly congeneric with that upon which the genus Idiops had been previously established (see ‘ Arachnides du Voyage de la Favorite,’ and ‘ Revue Zoologique,’ 1838, p. 10). This genus, Acanthodon, was afterwards, in the Supplement to his history ‘Des Arandides,’ included in ‘Ins. Apt.’ tom. ii. p. 234, by Baron Walckenaer, who also seems to have over- looked its identity with Idiops. Since that time nothing appears to have been published upon it. The present occasion, therefore, seems a fit one for the re-establishment of M. Perty’s genus, and the recti- fication of the erroneous reference to his species by Walckenaer in the work above quoted (Ins. Apt. tom. i. p. 379, where the specific name of Perty’s Spider is also erroneously given as Idiops aculeatus, whereas the name given it in Del. An. Art. Bras. is Idiops fuscus). Of the species* which are now included in the genus Idiops, three (Idiops fuscus (Perty), I. kochit, n. sp., I. petitii (Guérin)), are from two widely separated localities in South America (Brazil and the Amazons); the fourth (I. sigillatus, nu. sp.) is from the Swan River, West Australia, and in many respects a most remark- able species ; the fifth is from Beiriit in Syria. Fam. MYGA.IpDEs. Gen. Ip1ors. Idiops, Perty, Del. Anim. Artic. Bras. p. 197, 1830-34. Acanthodon, Guérin, Arachnides du Voyage de la Favorite, cl. viii. pl. 16. figs. 1-8 ; Revue Zool. 1838, p. 10; Walck. Ins. Apt. tom. li. p. 234. Characters of the Genus.—Cephalothorax large, oval, in some species uniformly convex above ; in others the caput is more or less elevated, and the sides as well as the thoracic portion depressed. Eyes unequal in size and disposed in three transverse rows, 2, 2, and 4; this last row, the hindmost, is much the longest, curved, and not far behind the second, or intermediate row; while the fore- most one is placed at a considerable distance in front, and only just above the insertion of the falees; they may also be described (see Guérin, l. e. sup.) as disposed in two groups,—the first placed on the anterior margin of the cephalothorax, and composed of two eyes near to each other ; the second considerably behind and forming a longish narrow transverse oval figure, composed of six eyes. Falces strong, promiment, and generally armed at their extremi- ties on the upperside with a group of short strong spines. Mazille cylindrical, divergent, almost entirely destitute of any prominence on their inner extremities, so that (like many others of the Magalides) the palpus appears to spring from the very extremity of the maxilla. * Vide supplementary notice, in which other new species are described, posted, p. 152. 1870.] REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON THE GENUS IDIOPS. 103 Labium small, oblong, rather narrower at the apex than at the base. Legs strong, variously armed with spines, and terminating with three claws, the two superior ones of which are sometimes pectinated. Palpi long, strong, and armed with spines ; in the female sex pedi- form, and ending with a simple curved claw; in the males termi- nating with palpal organs, which in general structure resemble closely those of the male sex in all known species of the Mygalides, viz. a corneous bulb slightly attached to the underside of the digital joint, and prolonged into a variously formed, but generally simple, spinous projection. M. Guérin remarks that nothing is known of the habits of his species I. petitii; the striking similarity, however, in one portion of its structure (viz. the strong and peculiar spines on the palpi, legs, and falces) seemed to indicate a habit similar to that of Cteniza, Latvr., Atypus (Latr.), aud Actinopus (Perty), 7. e. the formation of a tubular silken domicile in a hole dug out of the earth, and closed probably by a hinged lid: this habit has been verified in respect to one of the new species described below (I. syriacus) ; and thus M. Guérin’s concluding observation, “ Elle doit étre fouisseuse comme certaines Mygales et comme les Atypes,” has received a striking confirmation in fact. 1. Ip1ors FUSCUS. Idiops fuscus (Filarie mygaloides), Perty, Del. An. Art. Bras. p. 197, pl. 39. f. 5. Sphasus idiops, Walck. Ins. Apt. tom. i. p. 379. Male adult, length 43 lines. Cephalothorax suboval, but slightly convex above. Eyes eight, unequal in size; two small ones situate in front, then two of larger size, and behind these four small oues, placed in a curved line. Legs long, rather strong, attenuate towards the tarsi; relative length 1, 4, 2, 3. Palpi almost as long as the cephalothorax and abdomen, first joint forming the maxillz, last joint in the male inflated and unguiculate. Abdomen oval; sternum small, flat, subcircular. The whole spider is of a dusky black colour ; the coxe of the legs testaceous ; tarsired. At first sight similar to “ Actinopus tarsalis,” but in struc- ture and position of the eyes wholly dissimilar; on the underside the colour is testaceous brown. Hab. Brazil. In the above description, M. Perty omits a strong specific character, well shown in the figure, viz. the strong and tumid radial joints of the palpi. 2. Ipiors Kocut, n.sp. (Plate VIII. fig. 1.) Male adult, length 73 lines. Cephalothorax large, oval, transversely truncate before, and mode- rately convex above ; the lateral and posterior margins of the caput are 104 REY. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON THE GENUS IDIops. [Feb. 10, confluent with the thoracic region; the normal furrows and inden- tations are strongly marked, the median depression indicating the junction of the caput and thorax being very deep and curved. The colour of the cephalothorax (as also of the whole Spider except the abdomen) is a deep black brown, tinged with reddish, the abdomen being of a dull yellow-brown, blackened by numerous longish bristly black hairs, mingled with the shorter ones of a different colour ; the cephalothorax is furnished with bristly black hairs, which chiefly follow the directions of the normal indentations. Eyes eight, disposed in three transverse rows, seated on a slightly elevated and somewhat circular area: the two front rows consist each of two eyes; the third or posterior row consists of the four smallest eyes, and is much the longest and curved, the curve being directed backwards ; the eyes of this third row may be described as in two pairs, those of each pair being contiguous to each other, and forming the extremity of the row; the eyes of the two front rows form an oblong rectangular figure, whose transverse width is the shortest ; the eyes of the first row are close above the fore margin of the caput, and are the largest of the eight, but the line formed by them is only equal in length to that formed by the eyes of the second row, which last are seated on whitish tubercles and, being smaller than those of the front row, are therefore separated by a wider interval. Several strong black bristles spring up behind the eyes and arch forwards over them; and another, issuing from the centre of the area formed by the two front rows, arches backwards in a direction contrary to those before mentioned. Legs long and strong, the femora of those of the third pair being specially stout and tumid; they are furnished with blackish bristly hairs and a few spines; their relative length is 4, 1, 2, 3, the length of those of the fourth pair being 18 lines, and of those of the third pair 12 lines; beneath the two superior terminal claws of the tarsi is a compact brush, or small scopula of hairs, which prevented its being ascertained whether a third (or inferior) claw was present or no; the superior claws appeared to be destitute of pectinations ; it was not, however, easy to observe this with accuracy; the tibiee of the first pair of legs are furnished with several spines, of which one is much stronger than the rest, and issues from a small corneous prominence of the tibial joint. Palpi long and strong, similar in colour and armature to the legs ; cubital joint rather clavate, humeral strong and curved ; radial longer than the cubital, and rather densely furnished beneath with long bristly hairs ; digital joint narrow, oblong, a little constricted about its middle part; from beneath the hinder extremity of this joint spring the palpal organs, which are small and consist of a nearly circular red-brown corneous bulb prolonged into a sort of beak, directed rather outwards, and terminating in a filiform slightly curved point. Falces moderately strong and prominent, furnished with hairs, bristles, and a cluster of short black spines near their inner extre- mities. Maville long, cylindrical, divergent. 1870.] REV. 0. P. CAMBRIDGE ON THE GENUS IDIOPS. 105 The labium was almost concealed; but it was apparently very small, though similar in form to that of Idiops fuscus. Sternum somewhat oval in form, but much broader behind than before. Abdomen small, oval, very convex above, hairy, and of a dull yellow-brown colour, rendered blackish above by numerous bristly black hairs longer than the rest ; the plates of the spiracles (four in number) are of a paler colour than the rest of the abdomen; the spinners are also four in number; those of the superior pair being much the longest and strongest, and biarticulate. An adult male of this Spider was received through Mr. Janson from Pebas (Amazons, South America); it seems to be nearly allied to Idiops fuscus (Perty), but is much larger, and differs both in the relative size and disposition of the eyes, as well as in the structure of the palpi. In connecting this species with the name of Dr. Ludwig Koch of Niirnberg, I desire to pay a slight tribute of respect to one of the keenest and ablest of living arachnologists. 3. Iprops sigiLLatus, n. sp. (Plate VIII. fig. 2.) Male adult, length 9 lines. Cephalothoraz broad, nearly circular, and depressed; caput short, as if truncated before, and its junction with the thoracic region marked by a deep, transverse, and somewhat curved indentation ; the other normal furrows and indentations are also pretty strongly marked ; the colour of the cephalothorax is ‘a dark yellowish brown, and it is sparingly clothed with yellow-grey adpressed hairs, as well as some short black spiny bristles; a number of strongish black spines and spiny bristles also form a sort of border round its lateral margins. Eyes eight, placed on a black tubercular eminence of no great height, on the fore part of the caput; they are disposed in three transverse rows, 2, 2, and 4; those of the foremost row are the largest of the eight, near together, and situated immediately above the insertion of the falces; those of the second row are much smaller, and at some distance behind the former, with which they form an oblong rectangular figure, and occupy the summit of the tubercular eminence; not far behind these the four remaining eyes form the third row, which is much the longest and slightly curved (the curve directed backwards); the lateral eyes of this row are large, but rather less in size than those of the first row; the two central eyes are small (the smallest of the eight), and are further from each other than each is from the lateral on its side. From the centre of the rectangle formed by the eyes of the first and second rows, one or two strong, spiny, black bristles rise almost perpendicularly, curving a little backwards; two other bristles of the same kind, but shorter, spring up in a transverse line between the central eyes of the third row, and have their points directed forwards. Legs moderately long, strong; relative length 4, 1, 2,3; they are of a reddish yellow-brown colour, and are furnished with hairs, bristles, and black spines of varied length and strength: the tibize 106 REV. O. P. CAMBRIDGE ON THE GENUS IDIOPs. [Feb. 10, of the first pair have two strong, black, tubercular, corneous promi- nences near their extremities on the inner side; the hinder one of these is by far the longest and strongest ; both are furnished with bristles, and at their extremities are some short, strong, blunt, black spines. Each tarsus ends with three claws; the two upper ones are conspicuous, curved, and pectinated; the lower one is small, sharply bent downwards, and not easy to be seen. Palpi long, strong, similar to the legs in colour, and remarkable in their structure and armature; the cubital joints are short, and larger at their fore than at their hinder extremities; on their outer sides, rather underneath, is a sort of longitudinal irregular furrow or suture of a pale colour, with a slight prominence near the middle ; the radial joints are more than double the length of the cubitals, curved, very strong, and tumid, especially towards their hinder ex- tremities ; about the middle of their outer sides is a strong, pro- minent, tubercular projection, obtuse at its extremity, which (toge- ther with the underside) is furnished with very short, strong, blunt, black spines; about halfway between this projection and the ex- tremity of the joint is another, prominent, slender, and cylindrical, of a paler colour than the other, and with a few, very short, tuber- culiform, black spines near its extremity ; the digital joint is rather shorter than the cubital, of an oblong form, very slightly concave beneath, and with its anterior extremity strongly emarginate, or rather produced on either side, mostly so on the inner one. The palpi are furnished with hairs, bristles, and spines; a group of long and strong bristly hairs occupies the underside of the radial joint near its hinder extremity ; and the fore extremity of the digital joint is armed with some strong black spines. The palpal organs consist of a long, strong, and tortuous corneous process of a red-brown colour, mixed with whitish; this process is somewhat bulbiform near its base, and terminates with a small, bluntish continuation; in a state of rest this organ extends backwards nearly to the hinder extremity of the radial joint. Falces moderately strong, prominent, of a red-brown colour, hairy, and armed with a small group of short strong spines near their extremities on the upperside. Mazille strong, cylindrical, divergent, and having the palpi issu- ing from their extremities; they are thickly fringed on their inner sides with reddish-yellow hairs. Labium very small, short, rather broader at its base than at its apex, which is rounded. Sternum large, oblong-oval, much narrower before than behind ; this part (with the labium and maxillz) is similar to the legs in colour; the sternum is also furnished with strong, prominent, bristly hairs, and four smooth, oval, reddish patches or spots form a curved transverse row across its centre, the curve directed backwards. Abdomen broad-oval, narrower before than behind; it projects over the base of the cephalothorax, is tolerably convex above, round, and abruptly terminated at its hinder extremity; it is of a deep dusky-brown colour, its sides and upper part strongly rugulose, the 1870.] REV. 0. P. CAMBRIDGE ON THE GENUS IDIOPS. 107 wrinkles being sinuous, and with a longitudinal direction; each wrinkle is armed with a single and more or less complete row of short, strong, prominent, black spines; the hinder extremity of the abdomen has four largish, round, bare, black, slightly impressed patches, like seals; the two upper ones are the largest, and are wider apart than the two lower ones; the four form very nearly a square. The spinners (four in number) are short; the superior ones being the longest, strongest, and apparently biarticulate; the four spiracles are connected with conspicuous disks or plates of a reddish- brown colour, mixed with yellowish. An adult male of this very distinct and remarkable Spider was received through Mr. S. Stevens, from the Swan River, West Aus- tralia, in 1864. 4. IDIOPS PETITII. Acanthodon petitii*, (Guérin-Méneville) Voyage de la Favorite, el. vill. pl. 16. figs. 1-8 ; Walck. Ins. Apt. tome ii. p. 234. Female adult, length 14 lines. Cephalothorax elongate-oval, contracted and elevated before, flat- tened on the sides and behind. Eyes eight, disposed in two separate groups; the first, situated on the anterior margin of cephalothorax, is composed of two large eyes very near to each other, and placed on a tolerably strong tubercle; the second group is much further back, placed upon a strongish eminence, and forming a very narrow, transverse, oval figure; this group con- sists of six eyes, the two hindmost ones being rather the smallest. Palpi long, strong, and pediform, almost as strong as the legs, and armed beneath with short, strong spines, forming a sort of rake (rdteau). Legs longish and strong; relative length 4, 1, 2, 3; those of the first two pairs armed beneath the two last joints with short, strong spines similar to those beneath the palpi; each tarsus ends with three claws, the two superior ones much curved, and armed beneath, towards their base, with a strong tooth; the inferior claw is much smaller than the superior ones. Falces prominent, and armed in front with a group of strong spines. Mazille and labium similar in form to those of Idiops fuscus. Abdomen oval, hairy, of a pale dull brown colour, with some largish yellow spots beneath, near the branchial openings ; the colour of the cephalothorax, legs, and falces is a lively chestnut-brown, shining, and as if varnished. Spinners four in number and unequal in size. Branchial openings four in number, and placed in the usual position beneath the fore part of the abdomen. Hab. Brazil. 5. Iprops syrracus, n. sp. (Plate VIII. fig. 3.) Female immature, length 33 lines. The general colour of this species is yellow-brown, the cephalo- * Named after Dr. M. Petit de la Saussaie, by whom it was discovered and presented to M. Guérin. 108 MR. J. BRAZIER ON NEW MARINE SHELLS. ___[Feb. 10, thorax and falces being rather darker than the legs and palpi, and the abdomen having a duller whitey-brown hue; the hinder part of the caput is elevated or protuberant, the thoracic portion and sides being depressed ; the eyes are similarly placed to those of the fore- going species ; those of the two foremost rows form an oblong figure, whose width is considerably less than its length, and its fore extre- mity a little wider than its hinder one; the two central eyes of the hinder row are much further apart from each other than each is from the lateral on its side; the eyes of this row are of a bright pearly- white lustre, and larger than the rest (which are dark-coloured), the external ones being apparently the largest of the eight. From the centre of the long-oval figure formed by the six hinder eyes springs a long, tolerably strong, erect, black bristle, and from the highest part of the caput (behind the eyes) spring two other similar bristles directed forwards; the legs are short, strong, and taper rapidly to their extremities; those of the third pair are rather the strongest ; they are armed with hairs, bristles, and strong spines, the latter being especially beneath those of the first and second pairs; their relative length is 4, 3, 1, 2, thus differing in this respect from all the foregoing species; but there seemed very little, if any, difference in length between those of the first and second pairs. Each tarsus ends with three claws, the inferior one being very small, the superior pair having apparently but one strong tooth beneath, like those of Idiops petitii; the falces are strong, prominent, and armed with a group of powerful spines at their extremities on the uppersides. The mazille are furnished with bristles and short spine-like promi- nences, of which last there are also several at the apex of the labium. The abdomen is rather large, oval, and convex above, furnished spa- ringly with hairs, and of a whitish yellow-brown colour. Spinners four in number; the superior ones stout, biarticulate, but not very long; the inferior ones very small. This Spider was dug out of a bank close to Beirit, by myself, in May 1864; it was ina tubular web spun in a cylindrical hole formed in the earth, and closed at the entrance, on the surface of the bank, by a hinged lid, similar to that of some other species of the Myga- lides. 5. Descriptions of Three new Species of Marine Shells from the Australian Coast. By Joun Braziur, C.M.Z.S. VouuTa (AULICA) WISEMANI, 0. sp. The shell differs in a great many respects from V. pulchra, Sow. The first three whorls, forming the apex, are minutely granular ; fourth, tubercle slightly raised, straight and very sharp-pointed, orange-coloured blotches at the suture; fifth with the tubercles raised, sharp-pointed, tipped with orange, fine orange-coloured blotches at the suture, tubercles white between; basal whorl with five promi- nent tubercles at the angle, sharp-pointed, tipped with orange, be- 1870.) MR. J. BRAZIER ON NEW MARINE SHELLS. 109 tween the tubercles white, below the white runs an irregular inter- rupted orange band in blotches, white between; towards the base there run from the edge of the lip to the pillar eight irregular large orange-coloured blotches, intermediate spaces trigonal-shaped and white; minute round and oblong brown dots promiscuously scattered all over the shell (at first sight appearing as if it had been done by artificial means) ; four plaits on the columella, first three plaits con- spicuous, lower plait scarcely visible, not extending over on the columella, as in V. pulchra, but more slanting ; flesh-coloured enamel on the base, but very much puckered ; edge of lip tinged with bright orange; interior of aperture flesh-coloured. The red longitudinal lines so characteristic at the sutures in VY. pulchra and punctata are wanting in this: although the differences between V. pulchra and V. wisemani are of so nice a character, they are nevertheless uniform and constant. Length 3 inches, apert. 2 inches 3 lines long, breadth 1 inch 6 lines. Hab. Islands on north-east coast of Australia (Coll. Brazier), Var. With irregular orange blotches, and trigonal-shaped white spots promiscuously scattered over the shell (Coll. Hargraves, Coz, Rossiter). . I have named the species after my esteemed friend Commodore Sir William Wiseman, C.B., formerly of H.M.S. ‘Curacoa,’ who afforded me all the assistance that lay in his power when I went with him through the South-Sea Islands on a most delightful cruise of four months engaged in collecting specimens of natural history &c. Convs COOKI, 0. sp. Shell turbinated, rather thick, inflated, smooth, marked with red- dish undulating lines running longitudinally; spire convex, apex blunt; whorls six, strongly striated between the sutures; upper edge of basal whorl white, rounded, and marked with red undulating lines, sometimes straight; lip thin, crenated; base ridged, tipped with white; aperture light blue. Length 10 lines, breadth 53 lines. Hab. Captain Cook’s Landing-place, Botany Bay; amongst the rocks (Coll. Brazier, Hargraves). This species very much resembles a young non-coronated speci- men of O. princeps. The curious undulating hieroglyphical mark- ings are peculiar to C. cooki. The lines that run across C. infrenatus and C. aplustre, Reeve, are not to be found in C. cooki. I obtained my specimen at the spot where Captain Cook landed in 1770. My friend Mr. W. H. Hargraves obtained two specimens at Cape Solan- der, Botany Bay, New South Wales. CoNUS ROSSITERI, 2. sp. Shell turbinated, thin, shining, transversely finely striated under the lens, longitudinally blotched with chestnut-brown, white, and light blue; spire slightly convex, apex pointed; whorls seven to eight ; upper edge of basal whorl splashed with white arrow-shaped 110 MR. H. ADAMS ON A NEW SPECIES OF Fusus. [Feb. 10, spots, alternating with dark square chestnut spots ; very finely striated between the sutures; dark interrupted chestnut band across the centre f the shell, below the band faint whitish spots; base ridged, tipped with white, with a dark red band above the white; lip thin, slightly flexuous, edged with brown; interior of aperture white and brown. Length 8 lines, breadth 4 lines. Hab. Cape Solander, Botany Bay, New South Wales (Coll. Brazier). This pretty little shell I have named after my friend Mr. R. C. Rossiter, now of New Caledonia, who spent many pleasant hours with me dredging in the harbour of Port Jackson. It is allied to C. gilvus, Reeve, but much smaller. ; 6. Description of a New Species of Fusus. By Henry Apams, F.L.S. Fusus ventricosvus, H. Ad. F. testa fusiformi, solidula, longitudinaliter rugose striata, costis obtusis inequalibus, ad peripheriam majoribus, versus apicem Fusus ventricosus. fusco-nodosis cincta, flavido-alba; anfr. 8, convexis, prope su- turam excavatis; apertura ovata; labro simplici, intus sub- suleato; labio calloso, intus nodulis elongatis instructo, antice 1870.] MR. R. SWINHOE ON AMHERST’S PHEASANTS. 111 libero, late expanso, umbilicum falsum formante ; rostro bre- viusculo, recurvato, canali aperto, sinuoso. Long. 130, diam. 60 mill. Hab. L’Agulhas Bank, Cape of Good Hope. This species of the genus Fusus is remarkable from its ventricose form, recurved rostrum, and from the columellar lip being much expanded at the fore part of the aperture, thus giving it the appear- ance of being umbilicated. It was dredged on the L’ Agulhas Bank, off the Cape of Good Hope, and has been placed in my hands for description by Mr. Cutter, of Great Russell Street. One specimen. only was obtained. February 24, 1870. Dr. E. Hamilton, V.P., in the Chair. A communication was read from Mr. R. Swinhoe, F.Z.S., stating that when at Hankow last summer he had ascertained from H.M. Consul in that city that some living Amherst’s Pheasants (Thau- malea amherstie) which had passed that way to England had been received from a French priest, Monseigneur Chauveau, Bishop of Sebastopolis, who was stationed at Ta-tsien-leou, on the Tibetan frontier. Mr. Swinhoe had been permitted to take a copy of M. Chauveau’s letter upon the subject, which ran as follows :— “You may possibly at this moment wait for a letter about the Lady Amherst’s Pheasants. Our exertions have been successfu! enough ; and we have to-day in my little mountain-home (so well known to Mr. Cooper) nine Lady Amherst’s Pheasants, some of them in a perfectly good state, some in a Jess suitable condition. These birds are exceedingly common in our hills, but exceedingly cunning likewise. When they perceive, say the natives, in any cor- ner of the hill a small handful of Indian corn or rice, suspecting a snare they do not approach easily, but endeavour with their long tails to sweep away some of the corn in order to eat it without danger. Unfortunately we cannot, at any rate or by any means whatever, save the old ones; they refuse every kind of food. If you present them any thing they will never eat, but they peck your fingers and wound you cruelly; their captivity irritates them, say our good Chinamen. The young ones, on the contrary, appear to be very gentle birds, eating corn or rice in your hand without fear. They have magnificent tails, 24 inches in length generally.” ' In reference to this communication, Mr. Sclater remarked that there could be no doubt that these birds were those subsequently received by Mr. Stone, and for some time deposited in the Society’s Gardens* ; and pointed out the position of Ta-tsien-leou on the slope * See P. Z. 8. 1869, p. 468. 112 LETTER FROM MR. W. H. HUDSON, [ Feb. 24, of the Yung-lin mountains, between Tibet and the Chinese province of Sechuen. Mr. P. L. Sclater exhibited, and made remarks on, a specimen of a newly described Lemur of the genus Indris from Madagascar, which had been placed in his hands by Mr. A. J. F ranks, jun., for that purpose. This animal was stated to have been discovered by Mr. Van Dam during his recent explorations in North-eastern Ma- dagascar, and to have been described by Mr. F. Pollen, C.M.Z.S8., under the name Propithecus damanus. A second letter on the ornithology of Buenos Ayres*, addressed to the Secretary by Mr. William H. Hudson, was read. It was as follows :— “ Buenos Ayres, December 22nd, 1869. ‘“*Srr,—A few days ago I wrote you a letter, in which I spoke of the wood bordering on the Plata, and of some of its birds. I will now send you another letter on the same subject. “South of the city of Buenos Ayres, the low shore of the river is from six to eight miles in width ; but for more than half this width the portion furthest from the river is frequently inundated, and covered: with reeds and aquatic plants. Passing this there occurs a strip of light and dry land, running parallel with the river, composed chiefly of fossil shells, and grown over with a forest of low trees. In some places this high ground is extremely narrow; in others there are great breaks in it, through which the river passes when greatly swollen. In this strip of forest may be found all the birds inhabit- ing Buenos Ayres that perch on trees, not even excepting the Pampas Woodpecker (Colaptes campestris), of which Mr. Darwin has so unfortunately said:—‘ It is a Woodpecker which never climbs a tree’ (Origin of Species, p. 165). I will reserve for another letter an account of this interesting bird. Between the strips of high ground I have mentioned and the river itself is a low swampy region, often flooded, and covered with sayus-trees, interspersed with beds of aquatic shrubs, canes, and reeds. Though there is here in sum- mer a tropical profusion of splendid flowers, the sombre foliage of the trees, and sere withering colour of the reeds, give it a peculiarly sad and desolate appearance. This sayus-swamp is a great breeding- place for the Carranchos (Polybori) and other Hawks, of which there are great numbers of all the species known in this country, But in this region I have met with a very few species of the small birds found on the pampas. This part of its fauna, like its vege- tation, being derived from the north, differs from that of the adjacent country. All such species as are found exclusively in the riverine forest which I have described may be considered as reaching the ex- treme southern limit of their geographical range at about one degree south of the city of Buenos Ayres. I will now tell you what I have learned of some of these, and will mention others in future. * See anted, p. 83, for Mr. Hudson’s first letter—Ep. 1870.} LETTER FROM MR. W. H. HUDSON. 113 “1. Bathmidurus variegatus (Burm.).—I have met with but one individual of this prettily mottled Flycatcher. There is no example in the Buenos-Ayres Museum. It is probably very rare in La Plata, but is, I believe, found in Brazil. “2. Tyrannus aurantio-atro-cristatus (Lafr. et d’Orb.).—Of this species I have also obtained only one specimen. Its flight was like that of the 7. melancholicus. It was of a uniform dusky colour, with a golden crest. The specimen in the Buenos-Ayres Museum was brought from Entre Rios. 3. Fluvicola albiventris (Spix). The Buenos-Ayres Museum has specimens of this bird from Brazil; but I have met with several individuals here. The black upper and snowy-white lower plumage render it conspicuous ; but though so small a bird, it is extremely shy of approach, and has a rapid flight. It frequents the borders of streams, and breeds in the thick bushes of sarandi growing in the water. Its only note is a low ticking, uttered when the nest is approached. “4, Synallaxis albescens*.—The specimens in the Buenos-Ayres Museum of this bird were obtained in South Brazil. I met with it frequently in the ¢ola- and sayus-woods, where it unfailingly disco- vers itself by its loud, harsh, incessant note. It has also in the pairing-season a low strange song, very different from the usual shrill trilling notes of all its tribe. It leaves us in the winter. “5. Synallaxis egithaloides.—There is no example of this bird in the Buenos-Ayres Museum. Its colour is a yellowish brown. I met with a few individuals of it in some beds of a peculiar reed, of which the only other inhabitants were the Limnornis curvirostris. Though only about half the size of that bird, in notes and habits, as well as in habitat, it is exactly similar. **6. Lepidocolaptes atripes.—This bird, remarkable for its extra- vagantly long bill, I have observed in the ¢ola-woods. Their notes are exceedingly lond aud shrill; their flight, while passing from tree to tree, rapid, low, and undulating. They invariably alight on the bole of a tree, and sit upright with the head thrown far back, or run round and up the trunk searching for insects in the dead bark. They arrive here late in the spring. “7. Thamnophilus argentinus.—Inhabits the sayus-swamps, but is not common. Its low and trilling note is very peculiar, and is more like the song of a night insect than that of a bird. “8. Poospiza albifrons (Vieill.).--Inhabits the sayws-woods and reed-beds, but is a rare bird, and resembles in colour the yellow withered herbage which it frequents. I have never heard it sing. The allied species, the Poospiza nigro-rufa, is much more common, frequenting the ¢ola-woods, and often met with in orchards and hedges at a distance from the river. It is a pretty bird, the ruddy brown throat and breast and the straw-coloured line over the eye contrasting well with the dark upper plumage. It feeds and makes its nest on the ground, but loves to sit in a bush or low tree, and has a sweet and lively song. * Tam now a little doubtful whether the single skin thus named (P. Z. 8. 1868, p- 141) was not rather S. spixi, of which three examples occurred in Mr. Hudson’s third collection (see P. Z. 8. 1869, p. 632).—P. L. 8. Proc. Zoox. Soc.—1870, No. VIII. 1l4 MR. P. L. SCLATER ON THE CERVIDE. [ Feb. 24, «9. Tanagra cyanoptera.—This bird frequents the to/a-woods. They come in small flocks in spring, but are afterwards seen in pairs. Its note is low and plaintive. The absence of every colour but blue is the most remarkable characteristic of this bird, even its feet and bill being almost the same pale blue as the eitire plumage. The Tanagra striata is a much more common bird. “©10. Stephanophorus leucocephalus (Vieill.).—A very beautiful bird; in size, shape, and habits like the last. There is no end to the beautiful contrasts of colours in birds; but in few species do they present so lovely an appearance as in this, with the uniform deep rich Prussian blue of its plumage, and the cap of silvery-white feathers with the crimson spot in its centre. It is met with frequently in the fo/a-woods in summer. There is nothing remarkable in the low, chattering song of the male, often repeated for hours while the female is sitting. “11. Guiraca glauco-cerulea.—This bird, characterized by its thick bill, is much smaller than the last, but resembles it somewhat in its dark blue colour and low continuous song. It is a rare bird, inhabiting the sayus-swamps, and feeding on the ground on buds and seeds. “12, Amblyrhamphus holosericeus.—A common bird in sayus- swamps, found in flocks and remaining with us all the year. The English residents here have called it ‘Chisel-bill,’ from its bill, formed for extracting insects from the soft stem of decayed reeds, resembling that instrument in shape. Its clear and mellow whistle has also won for it the name of ‘ Buellero’ (Ox-driver). All its notes are soft, sweet, and flute-like. The plain red of its head and neck, con- trasted with the shining black of the other plumage, gives to it a striking and beautiful appearance. Its nest is built in the reeds or shrubs growing in the water; the eggs are four, pale blue and spotted with black ; the young birds are entirely black.” Mr. P. L. Sclater read a paper on the Deer of the Old World living in the Society’s Menagerie. Amongst these there were stated to be examples of several recently described and very little-known species, of which coloured drawings were exhibited. This paper will be printed in the Society’s ‘ Transactions.’ ' Mr. Sclater then made some remarks on the arrangement of the family Cervide, which he proposed to divide, mentioning only their most obvious external characters, into eight genera, as follows :— Subfam. I. Cervinz. Cornua decidua: dentes canini parvi aut nulli. a. Rhinarium pilosum. Cornuainiutroquesexw). 5 Seeiis ec. il tet ee doth te eee 1. Rangifer. Vicsaban PATHUIEDOTBATIG sah URS. Jase. sath acstehnaele 2. Alces. }, Rhinarium nudum. @. Corns palmMatamatcre acdeck -cpceedes.c+euanae ooaseaceseans 3. Dama, 2’. Cornua non palmata. Canad anprecsensy. eee seeps .Wabes dh. ces enaey ae asdeae 4. Cervus. Cauda extusiullay hac. we os ae seaten te owbinnk- See 5. Capreolus. 1870. ] MR. P. L. SCLATER ON THE CERVID&. 115 Subfam. II, Cervuin2. Cornua decidua: dentes canini maris exserti ................2.265 6. Cervulus. Subfam. III. Moscuin. Cornua nulla: dentes canini maris exserti. 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