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Show 278 PROF. W. B. BENHAM ON THE [Apr. 2, posterior end of the inter-ramal space, though the middle portion of the muscle had undergone retrogression. In all other Parrots the muscle was confined to the anterior fifth of this space, but in many of them evidences of its once more posterior extension could be found. In the majority of Parrots the posterior mylohyoideus consisted of an outer stylohyoideus and an inner serpihyoideus. Ararious degrees in the retrogression of the outer portion could be traced, up to Pezoporus, in which the left-hand one had disappeared and the right nearly so, and to the Lories, in which it had quite disappeared on both sides of the tongue. The structural characters of the tongue suggested that Parrots might be arranged in three families-Loriidse, Nestoridse, and Psittacidae. The investigation covered the study of the tongues of fifty-three species, ranging over the whole Order, the Cyclopsittacidae excepted. This memoir will be printed entire in the Society's' Transactions.' The following papers were read:- 1. On the Larynx of certain Whales (Cogia, Balanoptera, and Ziphius). By AV. B. B E N H A M , D . S C , M.A., F.Z.S., Professor of Biology in the University of Otago, N e w Zealand. [Eeceived February 27, 1901.] (Plates XXV.-XXVIII.1) (Text-figure 75.) During the month of August, 1900, I had the opportunity of obtaining specimens of two species of AVhales, both of which came ashore on the coast of Otago, near Dunedin, viz. a young newborn female Rorqual, Bcdcenoptera rostrata, and an adult male Cor/ia, the small Cachalot (probably C. brevieeps). The young Rorqual was found on the beach just outside the Ota,°-o Harbour, and I received it at the Museum the day after it was thrown ashore; it was thus perfectly fresh and wholesome, aud I was able to make a fairly complete dissection of it before its condition became unbearable. Since the soft anatomy of Balanoptera is pretty well known, thanks to the memoirs of Carte and Macalister, Delage, Turner, and others, I do not intend to give any account of it here. But on becoming possessed of some of the Viscera of Cogia, about three weeks later, I was struck by the remarkable differences presented by the larynx in these two genera-a fact well known to students of the Cetacea. The larynx of Cogia is, I believe, hitherto undescribed, for 1 For an explanation of the Plates, see p. 299. |