308 Royal Society : — 



canti-cinereis, pileo nigricantiore, gula magis cinerascente : 

 alarum pennis nigricantibuSy tectricum et secundariarum mar- 

 ginibus externis dorso concoloribus : ventre imo cum cauda 

 {tectricibus supra-caudalibus omnino abscondita) nigra et cer- 

 vine jiammulatis : rostri mandibula superiore nigricante, hvjus 

 autem tomiis cum mandibula inferiors flavidis : pedibus carneis. 

 Long, tota 8*5, alse 5*5, caudee 1*3, rostri a rictu 1*1, tarsi 1*9. 

 Hab. In Nov. Grenada interiore (Bogota). 

 Mus. P.L.S. 



I obtained a single specimen of this Tinamou out of a large col- 

 lection of Bogota skins in the hands of a dealer. I have in vain 

 attempted to find a name for it, and have looked through the ex- 

 amples of these birds in the great Museums of Leyden, Paris and 

 Philadelphia without finding a similar one. In the British Museum, 

 however, is a specimen possibly referable to the young stage of this 

 species. 



The present bird agrees in size and shape tolerably well with T. 

 parvirostris and T. tataupa, but is quite different in colouring from 

 any member of the group with which I am acquainted. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



January 14, 1858. — The Lord Wrottesley, President, in the Chair. 



*' On the Electrical Nature of the Power possessed by the ActinicB 

 of our Shores," By Robert M'Donnell, M.D., M.R.I.A. 



After referring to the well-known phaenomena manifested by elec- 

 trical fishes, and to alleged instances of numbing effects, but of doubt- 

 ful electrical nature, produced on the naked hand by the contact of 

 certain marine Invertebrata, the author describes his own observa- 

 tions and experiments with the Actinia as follows : — 



Suppose that into a vessel containing some Actiniae well expanded, 

 and apparently on the look-out for food, some of the tadpoles of the 

 common frog be introduced, these little creatures do not, like many 

 freshwater fishes of about the same dimensions, immediately die ; 

 on the contrary, the salt water seems to stimulate their activity, they 

 become very lively and swim about with vivacity. One of them may 

 not unfrequently be observed to make its way among the tentacles of 

 an Actinia and get off again quite uninjured ; it may even for a time 

 nestle among the tentacles with as much impunity as if it were only 

 in contact with a piece of sea- weed ; but should the tadpole have the 

 misfortune to fall in with a more voracious Actinia, the reception it 

 meets with is very different. Sometimes, when by an incautious lash of 

 its tail it touches even a single tentacle, it may at once be laid hold 

 of, and in the violent efforts which it forthwith makes to break loose, 

 often merely brings itself within the reach of other tentacles, by 

 which it is seized and overpowered. Occasionally, however, after 

 having been thus seized, the tadpole by its superior activity succeeds 

 in effecting its escape, and when it does so, it seems for a time sin- 

 gularly excited; it twists and writhes and wriggles through the 



