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Show 2 6 the barbs forming at the proximal extremity, the white tip of the winter feather formed also the light base of the summer feather. The summer feather was rather shorter than the normal, and possibly was not fully grown when the autumn moult intervened. Mr. R. I. P ocock, the Superintendent of the Gardens, exhibited the tail of a Crested Porcupine to show the peculiar structure of the quills which constituted the animal's so-called u rattle." A communication was read from Messrs. J o h n R e n n ie , D.Sc., and H ar r y W isem an , B.Sc., of the University of Aberdeen. It contained an account of the Ascidians of the Cape Verde Marine Fauna collected by Mr. Cyril Crossland, B.A., B.Sc., F.Z.S., and recorded the occurrence of ten species of Ascidiae Simplices, of which three were described as new. Mr. F. E. B e d d a r d , F.R.S., communicated a paper, on behalf of Mr. L ionel K. C r aw sh a y , on variations in the Arterial System of certain species of Anura. A communication was read from Mr. G u y A. K. M a r sh a l l , F.Z.S., containing descriptions of fifty-three new species of African Coleoptera of the family Curculionidse. A paper by Mrs. 0. A. M err itt H aw k e s , B.Sc. (Lond.), on the Cranial and Spinal Nerves of Chlamydoselachus anguineus, was read. It contained a description of these nerves and discussions of them from the point of view of the nerve-component theory, and showed that the nervous as well as the other systems of Chlamydoselachus combined specialized and primitive features ; that the nervous system was intermediate in position between that of Scyllium and of Chimcera; that the trigemino-facial complex exhibited but few signs of the primitive ; that the true facialis was interesting owing to the presence of pre- and post-trematic rami apart from the truncus hyomandibularis ; that there was a chorda tympani ; that the glossopharyngeus probably supplied two neuromasts ; that the vagus was disappointing in that its ganglia were mostly indistinguishable, but this was probably due indirectly to the marked backward swing of the jaws. On the other hand, it showed that there was a sixth ramus branchialis vagi to the remnants of a seventh arch ; that a hypoglossal nerve was present; that the acoustico-lateralis rami were closely related to one another, their distribution showing the close functional relationship of neuromasts and ampullae of Lorenzini ; and that both the lateral line system and ampullae were primitive and remarkably unstable. In a communication regarding two mammals obtained by Major Powell-Gotton in the Ituri Forest, Mr. R . L y d e k k e r , F.Z.S., referred a dark-coloured Cat's skin to a race of Felis chrysothrix, and also described a giant Elephant-Shrew as new. |
