NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 187 



belongs to tlie sub-genus Antaceus, but Dr Young mentioned that its 

 characters did not correspond with those of any described species. 

 Its nearest ally and representative is A. mecUrostris from San Fran- 

 cisco. The northern limit assigned to sturgeons is 54 degrees 

 north latitude. This specimen must therefore have been found 

 beyond the customary range of the group. 2d, Amia canina, a 

 ganoid fish from New Orleans, presented by Mr Taylor Denegre, 

 Edinburgh. Two specimens of this fish were sent, which are 

 intended for dissection and description. Professor Young com- 

 mented on the afiinity said by Agassiz to exist between this genus 

 and the Ccelacanths — extinct ganoids which range from the lower 

 carboniferous to the chalk — and jjointed out the important differ- 

 ences which separate the two genera. 3d, CalUonijmus lyra, the 

 gemmeous dragonet, a specimen caught at Tigh-na-bruaich, and pre- 

 sented by Principal Barclay. 4th, The Hebridean smelt (Osmerus 

 Hehridicus), determined l)y the late Mr Yarrell, from a specimen 

 sent him by Mr William Euing, to whom it had been brought as 

 an unknown fish. The present specimen was caught at Kilcreggan. 

 The species seems very rare still, as it was sent as a curiosity to 

 Mr M'Kenzie, of the Greenock Advertiser, by whom it was presented 

 to the museum. 



The Secretary exhibited beautiful casts of the leg bones of 

 the Dinornis, an extinct New Zealand bird, and jaw bone of a Di]^- 

 rotodon, which had been forwarded from Melbourne by R. Brough 

 Smyth, Esq., Secretary of Mines for the colony of Victoria. 



Mr T. S. Hutcheson then laid before the meeting a quantity 

 of writing paper showing defective spots in its manufacture, about 

 the origin of which, little aj^pears to have been known until 

 recently. Professor "Walker Arnott, one of the society's members, 

 had examined the paper with a view to ascertain whether the 

 marks were of vegetable origin, but being unable to refer them to 

 this source, he had submitted specimens of the paper to a dis- 

 tinguished chemist in the city, who reported as follows: — "I 

 have often noticed the little spots on paper, and I think have seen 

 it stated that they are vegetable, and have never had reason to 

 doubt this. On examining them, however, I find they are mineral, 

 and apparently consist of copper, but in what form of combina- 

 tion I cannot say, as the quantity is too small to admit of any- 

 thing like minute examination. I presume the copper comes 

 from the apparatus used by the paper maker, in which there is 



