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Show 10 Mr. L. DONCASTER, M.A., F.Z.S., and the Rev. G. H. RAYNOR, M.A., communicated a paper on Breeding Experiments they had made with Lepidoptera. The species used were Angerona prunaria and its var. sordiata, and Abraxas grossulariata and its var. lacticolor. In A. prunaria the banding of the var. sordiata was dominant over its absence in the type, but the speckling characteristic of the type appeared in the heterozygote, so that the latter was both banded and speckled. The characters appeared to segregate in the typical Mendelian manner, but in several families there was an excess of prunaria over sordiata. In A. grossulariata the var. lacticolor was a Mendelian recessive, but was normally found only in the female. By pairing a heterozygous male with a lacticolor female, lacticolor males and females w^ere obtained. lacticolor male X female gave only lacticolor; lacticolor males by heterozygote females had given all males of the type, all females lacticolor. Several typical families of each species were exhibited. Mr. W. P. PYCEAFT, F.Z.S., read a paper on the " Tracheophone Passeres," which he described as a group differing from all the remaining Passeres in the formation of the syrinx, which was tracheal-instead of tracheo-bronchial-and peculiar among syringes of the tracheal type in the development of a cartilaginous pillar for the insertion of the intrinsic muscles. The group was divisible into three sections : (a) having holorhinal nares and a single-notched sternum, (b) with schizorhinal nares and a single-notched sternum, and (c) with holorhinal nares and a doubly-notched sternum. He proposed to make the Tracheophone Passeres one of four great divisions of the Passerine stem. The most primitive of the divisions would contain the Euryla?midap, Cotingidae, and Philepitta. The second would be represented by the Tracheophona?, the third by the Tyrannidae and Pittida?, and the fourth by the rest of the Passeres. A paper by Messrs. OLDFIELD THOMAS, F.R.S., and HAROLD SCHWANN, F.Z.S., was read, giving an account of a collection of Mammals made by Mr. C. H. B. Grant at Knysna, and presented to the National Museum by Mr. 0. D. Rudd. The collection consisted of about 150 specimens, belonging to 31 species or subspecies, of which the most noticeable was Mrs. Rudd's Golden Mole (Aniblysomus corrice), the description of which had already been laid before the Society. A new generic name, Nototragus. was applied to the Grysbok, which differed from the other members of Raphicerus by its possession of supplementary hoofs. A communication from Prof. BASHFORD DEAN contained an account of the habits of the Australian Lung-fish (Ceratodus forsteri) as observed by him in the Society's Menagerie. |