Boy at Society of London. 2%J 



norny, and confined to the tongue and the palate : the hind 

 legs are furnifhed with a fpur. The tto'mach has a number 

 of horny papillae near the pylorus : it is much larger than 

 that of the ornithorhynchus paradoxus : the animal appears 

 to fwallow a confiderable quantity of land with its food. The 

 fecond branch of the fifth pair of nerves is extremely fmall, 

 fo that this fpecies has probably no peculiar fenfe of feeling 

 on its bill: that of fmell appears to compenfate the deficiency. 

 The fmall bones of the ear are only two, correfponding to 

 the malleus and (tapes; the divifions of the cochlea are car- 

 tilaginous. The contents of the pelvis agree with thofe of 

 the"ornithorhynchus, in greatly refembling the clafs of birds. 

 Mr. Home has examined feveral other fpecies of manis and 

 myrmccophaga, but finds that they all are furniflied with 

 mamma?. The peculiar characters of the genus ornithorhyn- 

 chus appear to be the fpur on the hind legs, the abfence of 

 nipples, the fmooth beak, and the horny teeth. From all 

 thefe confider-itions, Mr. Home infers that the genus forms 

 a connecting link between the mammalia, aves, and am- 

 phibia. 



This animal was defcribed before, by Dr. Shaw, under the 

 name myrmecopbaga aculccita\ but, from the abfencc of the 

 mammae, and its greater internal refemblance to the orni- 

 thorhynchus, Mr. Home places it in the fame genus. 



On the 17th an analyfis of a pulmonary calculus, by 

 P. Crampton, efq. was read. 



Mr. Crampton found in 100 parts of this calculus, 45 of lime, 

 37 of carbonic acid, and 18 of animal matter and water; this 

 was probably albumen, being coagulable in acids. He thinks 

 it probable that this fpecimen may have been of a different 

 nature from thofe which are defcribed by Fourcroy, and 

 which have been fuppofed to contain phofphate of lime. 

 Mr. Crampton thinks it eafier to underftand how phofphate 

 of lime might have been feparated from the blood than car- 

 bonate; but he conceives that even this may be depofited 

 in the lungs by a morbid procefs, fimilar to the healthy one 

 by which it is fecreted to form a confiderable part of the 

 bones. 



The fame evening a letter from Mr. Carlifle to the prefi- 

 dent was read, containing a defcription of two kinds of eyes 

 obferved in the gryllus gryllotalpa, with other circumflances 

 refpedting the ftructure and natural hiitory of that animal. 



On the 24th of June a method of examining refractive and 

 difperfive powers by prifmatic reflection, by Dr. Wollalton, 

 y. R. S. was read. 



It was fuggefted to the author by a confideration. of the 



prifmatic 



