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Show 516 PROF. HOWES AND MR. SWINNERTON ON THE TUATERA. [May 22, ClCHLIDjE. 37. HEMICHROMIS FASCIATUS Ptrs. 38. PELMATOCHROMIS JENTINKI Stdr. 39. TlLAPTA GALIL^A Gm. 40. TILAPIA LATA Gthr. " Known as ' Furu.' Much esteemed as food. Very common, the largest seen being 10 inches in length; great numbers taken with the seine-net. They are chiefly found in shallow water." PLEURONECTIDiE. 41. CYNOGLOSSUS SENEGALENSIS Kaup. "Native name ' Juso' (heart). Taken from above McCarthy's Island." May 22, 1900. Dr. ALBERT GUNTHER, F.E.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. The Secretary announced that Mr. J. S. Budgett, F.Z.S., had Liverpool on Saturday the 19th inst., on a second expedition to the Gambia, where he was proceeding in order to complete his studies of the Fish-fauna of that Colony, and especially to investigate the life-history and development of the remarkable Fishes Polypterus and Protopterus. On reaching Bathurst Mr. Budgett would go up the river to his former quarters on McCarthy's Island, in the neighbourhood of which he had already ascertained that these fishes breed during the rainy season. A communication was read from Prof. G. B. Howes, F.E.S., and Mr. H. H. Swinnerton, B.Sc, on the development of the skeleton of the Tuatera, Sphenodon (Hatteria) punctatus, which was stated to be the outcome of 18 months' work on material supplied to the authors by Prof. Dendy, of Christchurch, N.Z. An account was given of the egg, the hatching, and the habits of the hatched young, which the authors reared till four months old. Thus a stao-e (T) was added to Prof. Dendy's series. The main conclusions arrived at were stated to be as follows : Two kinds of inter-centra are formed, of which one persists as the chevrons. The cartilaginous vertebral bodies arise as paired structures, and the intra-vertebral plates are chordal in on»in. Inter-vertebral plates are formed in the tail, and the intra-vertebral plates have a special relation to the " splitting " process ; also a series of central chordal vesicles is formed at the points of greatest flexibility. The "uncinates" are mostly separate in origin. The |