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Show 44 DR. W. G. RIDEWOOD ON THE [Feb. 5, we were not able to get any specimen of the Majorcan Hare. Barcelo relates that it was introduced into Minorca by the English, but that it died out there after a short time. It certainly does not occur there now. 24. ORYCTOLAGUS CUNICULUS L. The Eabbit (Cuni in Balearic, Conejo in Spanish) occurs in all the three islands of the group, but is nowhere very common. 2. O n the Structure of the Horny Excrescence, known as the " Bonnet," of the Southern Right Whale (Balarna australis). By W . G. RIDEWOOD, D.SC, F.L.S., Lecturer on Biology at the Medical School of St. Mary's Hospital. [Received December 18, 1900.] (Plate VI.1) The two specimens upon which the following observations were made are those described by Gray in 1864 in the ' Proceedings ' of this Society (p. 170), and in 1866 in the British Museum Catalogue of Seals and Whales (p. 95). They are respectively catalogued at the Natural History Museum, where they are exhibited, as " epidermic excrescence from the median line of the fore part of the head; called by whalers the bonnet," and " smaller specimen of the same"; and they bear the register numbers 64.6.1.15 aud 64.6.1.6 2. Both were presented to the Museum by Mr. E. W . Holdsworth in 1864. The larger specimen measures 11 inches by 8, and the smaller 6 inches by 2|. A rough woodcut of the former was given by Gray in the ' Proceedings' of this Society, and in the British Museum Catalogue of Seals and Whales. This wart or " bonnet" on the snout has been the object of many ingenious speculations. Gray mentioned it as the opinion of a foreign zoologist, whose name is not disclosed, that the " bonnet " is an excrescence formed by the adhesion of the barnacles called Coronula. A second opinion of the same authority is that it is caused by the irritation of the whale-louse. Mr. Holdsworth suggested that it was a natural development, and was possibly characteristic of the species; while Owen considered it as due to disease of the outer layers of integument. Beddard, in his recent 'Book of Whales' (1900, p. 136), states that "it gives one the impression that it is a pathological structure, a kind of corn, perhaps produced by the animal rubbing itself against rocks, as this species has been observed to do in order to get rid of the barnacles which are apt to infest it." 1 For an explanation of the Plate see p. 47. '-' List of Oelacea in the British Museum. London, 1885, p. 3. |