Lifinaan Society. 357 



2. Fructu pilosissimo ; rostro bifido. 



132. C. fdiformis ; 1.33. C. evoluta; 134. C. hirta. 



3. Fructu hand piloso ; rostro bifido. 



135. C. secalina; 13G. C. hordeiformis ; 137. C. vesicaria; 138. C. awi- 



pullacea; 139. C.riparia; 140. C. So/eirolu; 141. C. nutans; 



142. C. paludosa. 



On many of these species, and on other named species which Mr. 



Woods regards merely as varieties of one or other of the foregoing, 



the paper contains numerous observations. Of the following species 



the descriptions are not sufficiently complete to allow of the author 



placing them : C. alopecurus, Lap. ; C. juncoides, Presl ; C. coslata, 



Presl ; C.furcata, Lap.; C. manostachys, Spr. ; C.fusca, All.; C. 



nesliaca, Suter ; C. Bastardiana, DeC. ; and C. badia, Pers. 



June 18. — The Lord Bishop of Norwich, President, in the Chair. 



Read a notice " On the Economy of the Order Strepsiptera" By 

 John Curtis, Esq., F.L.S. &c. 



Read also a memoir " On the Muscles which move the Tail and 

 Tail-coverts of the Peacock." By G. C. Heming, Esq., M.D., 

 F.L.S. &c. 



Dr. Heming first refers to the mechanism by which the elevation 

 of the feathers of birds in general is effected, either by a contractile 

 power of the cutis vera, or by various modifications of subcutaneous 

 muscles analogous to the panniculus carnosus of certain Mammalia ; 

 and then proceeds to the more immediate subject of his paper, the 

 motions of the tail and train of the peacock, in which the apparatus 

 for this purpose is far more complicated than in any other bird. This 

 apparatus consists of two parts ; the one intended for raising the 

 caudal vertebrae and the feathers inserted into the groove of the last 

 vertebra, and the other confined to the movements of the upper tail- 

 coverts. As regards the former, Dr. Heming adopts, with little mo- 

 dification, the description of the muscles of the tails of birds given 

 by Cuvier ; the latter he describes in the following terms : — 



"Upon the sacro-coccygeal muscle, which is exceedingly large and 

 powerful in this bird, there is placed a mass of cellular substance some- 

 what of a triangular shape, measuring about five inches at the base, 

 and each lateral line extending from the base to the apex about six 

 inches ; the base is situated towards the tail, and extends in this di- 

 rection almost as far as the last caudal vertebra ; thus there is not 

 the space of an inch between the quills of the upper tail-covert and 

 those of the true tail, while the apex of the triangular mass extends 

 nearly to the lumbar extremity of the sacrum ; it is wider than the 

 muscle upon which it lies, and extends over it at each side full half 

 an inch. This triangular mass is much thicker below than above : 

 here it is full three-quarters of an inch thick, whilst at the apex it is 

 not half this thickness. It is covered on its sacral surface by a 

 thin fascia, and is connected to the muscle beneath it by loose cel- 

 lular texture, which can be easily broken down by the handle of a 



