346 Linruean Society. 



Read also a " Description of a new species of Cowry." By G. B. 

 Sowerby, Esq., F.L.S. &c. &c. 



CvPRiEA VENUSTA, testa ovato-ventricosa utraque extremitate antica prae- 

 cipue subrostrat^, dorso gibboso carnicolore maculis pallide castaiieis 

 notato, lateribus basalibus incrassatis carnicoloribus, extremitatibus 

 pallide cjistaneis roseo-tinctis, basi subplanulata albicante extremita- 

 tibus earrncoloribus, spira valida obtusa anCractibus duobus, apertura 

 elongata angusta rectiuscula intus rosea postice in canalem brevem 

 sinistralem exeuiite antice subflexuosa, canali antic^ brevi rectiuscula 

 paululum deflexa, dentibus labii cxterni circa 25 magnis interstitiis 

 aequalibus rotundatis; labii interni paucis (circa 16) majoribus distan- 

 tibus anticis maximis medianis fere obsoletis, cavitate columellari parva 

 alba. 



A very handsome Cowry, of which a single specimen has lately 

 been received from Port Adelaide, South Australia. 



January 19, 1847.— E. Forster, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. Ward, F.L.S., exhibited a fine series of specimens of Adiantum 

 Capillus Veneris, L., together with a specimen oi Asplenium Tricho- 

 manes, L., collected in Italy by Mr. E. W. Cooke, the latter bearing 

 on several of its pinnae sori taking their origin from the upper as well 

 as from the lower surface of the frond ; and also a portion of a large 

 branch of a Scotch Fir hollowed out by hornets to form a nest, and 

 beautifully exhibiting in the dissected parts the origins of the smaller 

 branches. 



Read a paper " On the Natural History, Anatomy, and Develop- 

 ment of Melo'e (second memoir)." By George Newport, Esq., F.R.S. 

 &c. Communicated by the Secretary. 



Mr. Newport states at the commencement of his paper, that his 

 present object is to compare the habits and anatomy of Meloe in its 

 larva state with those of the larvae of allied genera, and with the pa- 

 rasitic groups of insects the Strepsiptera and Anoplura, with a view 

 to show that habit and instinct in animals are always closely asso- 

 ciated with the functions of particular organs, and seem to be the 

 immediate result of structural peculiarities of organization. 



Having in his former memoir described the habits of Meloe, and 

 traced the young from the Qg^ to the imago state, he now entered 

 on an examination of the habits of the entire group of insects allied 

 to Meloe, and showed that the whole of them in their larva state bear 

 a general resemblance to the larva Meloe, not only in their organi- 

 zation but also in their habits ; and that the more closely the larvae of 

 different genera approach in structure, the more nearly also are they 

 allied in instinct and oeconomy. This accordance between structure 

 and instinct he regards as universal throughout nature, and as par- 

 ticularly marked in the Articulata. The author believes that, by 

 carefully comparing our observations on the natural history of ani- 

 mals with their peculiarities of structure, and these on the other 

 hand with their instincts, what might otherwise remain useless and 

 isolated facts may be rendered truly important to science, " as data 

 on which a correct knowledge of the laws of creation and life may 



