214 Zoological Society : — 



23. Bedellia somnulentella, Zeller. 

 Bedellia somnulentella, Stainton, Mus. Cat. p. 134. 

 Inhabits Madeira proper. 



24. Oinophila flava, Haworth. 

 Oinophila V-flava, Stainton, Mus. Cat. p. 136. 



The occurrence at Madeira proper of this insect, which, with 

 us, resides in the corks of wine-bottles, is interesting. 



25. Ptei'ophorus acanthodactylus, Hiibner. 

 Pterophorus acanthodactylus, Stainton, Mus. Cat. p. 174. 

 Inhabits Madeira proper. 



26. Pteropho7'tcs pterodactyluSj Linnaeus. 

 Pterophorus pterodactylus, Stainton, Mus. Cat. p. 177- 

 Inhabits Madeira proper. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



July 13, 1858.— Dr. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



On the Genus Synapta. By S. P. Woodward and Lucas 

 Barrett. 



The marine animals allied to the Sea Cucumbers, forming the 

 genus Synapta, possess a peculiar interest for that large class of 

 persons who study Natural History with the microscope, because 

 they aiford the miniature Anchors, of which a hundred may be 

 shown in the field of tbe **inch object-glass," and thousands some- 

 times exist in the space of a square inch — each elegant in form and 

 perfectly finished, and articulated to an anchor-plate whose pattern 

 (as well as that of the anchor itself) is characteristic of the species 

 to which it belongs. 



Curiously enough, these anchors were unknown to all the earlier 

 writers, and most of the moderns. Forskal, who had the merit of 

 describing two species of Synapta so long ago as 1775, remarked 

 that they " adhered to the finger by glutinous papillae invisible to 

 the eye." O. F. Muller called the Northern species llolothuria in- 

 hcerens for the same reason. And Eschscholtz, who met with several 

 species at Tahiti and on the coast of Russian America, concluded 

 that they ought ** to form a class apart, not having tubular feet, but 

 adhering, by means of their sharp skin, to extraneous objects, on 

 which account they might be called Synajita *." 



♦ Appendix to Kotzebue's Second Voyage, 8vo, Lond. 1830, p. 338. Van der 

 Hoeven makes Eschscholtz say the Synapta adheres " by means of sniall hook- 



