56 Zoological Society. 



ut plurimum continuis, ct ad margines aperturce terminaniibus ; 

 sulco columellari albido, margine interno dentibus serrato ; aper- 

 turd angustd; labio externo extus incrassato ; extremitatibus pau- 

 lulum productis. 

 Reddish-brown Cowry. — Shell ovate, shining, of a dark reddish- 

 brown colour ; ribs the colour of the shell, mostly terminate at the 

 dorsal depression ; a very few on the sides of the shell, thence ex- 

 tending to form teeth on both sides of the aperture ; on the outer 

 side or lip about eighteen, and about sixteen on the columellar side ; 

 columellar groove whitish, the teeth traverse it and serrate its entire 

 inner edge ; aperture narrow, very slightly spiral ; base round ; margin 

 thick, none on the columellar side ; extremities slightly produced. 



Differs from the fusca of Gray, in the ribs of the base, and the 

 teeth not being white, but of the same colour as the shell ; in the 

 ribs being much finer, in having a dorsal line or impression, and in 

 being of a deeper and redder colour. 

 Long, y^ths of an inch. 



Hab. ? 



Cab. Gaskoin, &c. 



March 24. — William Yarrell, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



The first communication was the following Note from Mr. Gulliver, 

 on the size of the Blood- Corpuscles of Birds, with measurements by 

 Dr. Davy of the Blood- Corpuscles of some Fishes and of a Humming 

 JBird. 



While my friend Dr. Davy was employed by our Government on 

 a special medical service at Constantinople, and afterwards as princi- 

 pal medical officer at Barbadoes, he communicated to me the mea- 

 surements, appended hereto, of the blood-corpuscles of some animals. 



Medical officers residing in different parts of the world might 

 render a very acceptable service to physiology, by giving an account 

 of the blood- corpuscles not yet examined of various animals ; and 

 doubtless some new or otherwise interesting facts would thus be ob- 

 tained, especially among the larger Cetacea, the smallest birds, the 

 cartilaginous fishes, reptiles and amphibia. 



Dr. Davy shows that some foetal sharks, six or seven inches long, 

 have oval corpuscles like those of the adult ; and he confirms Pro- 

 fessor Wagner's observation as to their large size in this family. 



Although, in a strictly natural family of Mammalia, as the Rodents 

 or the Ruminants, there is a relation between the size of the corpus- 

 cles and that of the animal, there is no such relation in Mammalia 

 of different orders. But in the entire class of Birds the law for the 

 size of the corpuscles is the same as in a single family of Mammalia ; 

 at least among birds no example has yet been found of comparatively 

 large corpuscles in the smallest species and of more minute corpus- 

 cles in the largest species. I have elsewhere* remarked the neces- 

 sity of examining the blood of the Humming Birds with reference to 

 this view ; which is now supported by Dr. Davy's observation, show- 

 ing that the corpuscles of a bird of this kind are as small as those 

 * Gerber's Anatomy, Appendix, p. 26. Lond. 1842. 



