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Show 222 MR. SCLATER ON THE BIRTH OF AN ELEPHANT. [Apr. 6, the livraison confined to the Scutellidse ? certainly it is, and Prof. Alex. Agassiz most explicitly says so ; but what does the "so-called " Introduction deal with ? In the space of 20 pages reference is made to (not to quote all) Forbes's 'British Starfishes' (itself a general work on Echinoderms), the classifications proposed by Miiller and Troschel and by J. E. Gray for the Asterida, to M . Desmoulins's Studies on the Echinida, to Brandt's establishment of certain genera of regular Echini, to the same writer's classification of the Holothurians, to Grube's anatomy of Sipunculus, to Sars's researches into the development oi Asterias, to J. Muller's labours on Pentacrinus, as well as to various memoirs on fossil forms. (4) The genus Tripneustes is not defined in the essay referred to, but the type only mentioned as E. ventricosus. (5) In the Introduction to Valentin's anatomy of Echinus the genus is well defined (p. viii). (6) Notwithstanding certain cases to the contrary, I prefer to believe that, in the case of Tripneustes at any rate, L. Agassiz justly referred in the ' Nomenclator' to the paper in which he amply defined and so, strictly speaking, published that generic name. There are two other statements of mine which it is not just to denounce as misrepresentations, for they both arise from m y fundamental proposition that, in zoological nomenclature, names which antedate Linnaeus do not exist; thus variegata gets put out of court, and 1788, not 1734, is, with me, the date oi unicolor. April 6, 1880. Prof. W. H. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. The Secretary read the following extracts from two letters of Mr. Arthur E. Brown, Superintendent of the Gardens of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, U.S.A., relating to the birth of an Elephant, which had taken place on the 10th ult. in Cooper and Bailey's menagerie at Philadelphia. These letters had been addressed to Mr. W. A. Conklin, C.M.Z.S., of N e w York, and had been kindly communicated to the Secretary by that gentleman. " The baby Elephant was born only on Wednesday morning; is a female, strong and healthy, and I see no reason why they should not successfully rear it. They have another female which they say is eight months gone with young ; and from examination I am inclined to think this is the case. " Our Prosector, Dr. Chapman, was fortunate enough to obtain the placenta in perfect condition; the only other one known, I believe, is an imperfect specimen in the Royal College of Surgeons, London, sent in spirit from India. It is a good thing that this one has fallen into perfectly competent hands. The baby is a lively, interesting little thing, about two feet high, weight 213 pounds (an hour after birth), and is well worth seeing. |