378 Zoological Society, 



taining, by the duration of their life when deprived by immersion in 

 water of the access of free air, whether the animals of Melampus, 

 Tornatella, &c, are pectinibranchiate or pulmoniferous. Mr. Lowe, 

 in his present paper, intended for publication in the same Journal, 

 is anxious to guard against the too strict adoption of his conclusion 

 that animals which continue to exist for a long time immersed in 

 water cannot be lung-breathing - } as he conceives it to be possible 

 that in animals so comparatively low in organization as Mollusca, 

 the quantity of oxygen required for the aeration of the blood may- 

 be so small as to be furnished even by sea-water to lung-bearing 

 races j or, in the second place, the lungs being supposed to be in- 

 active during the immersion, that some compensating power may 

 exist, as in the skins of the Batrachia, which may enable existence 

 to be prolonged for a considerable time without the access of free 

 air to animals whose organization is adapted for breathing it. 



August 27. — A letter was read, addressed to the Secretary by the 

 Rev. R. T. Lowe, Corr. iMemb. Z.S., and dated Madeira, June 25, 

 1833. It accompanied an extensive series of the land and fresh- 

 water Shells of that island, which the writer presented to the So- 

 ciety's Museum, and which were exhibited. With one exception, 

 they have been described by Mr. Lowe in a paper published, with 

 figures, in the 'Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society/ 



In another letter, of the same date, Mr. Lowe states, " We have no 

 native Mammalia (except a few Seals now and then on the coast,) 

 existing on the Island, at least in its present state. The common 

 brown Rat and the Mouse abound, of course introduced ; and the 

 Ferret is said to have become wild in one part of the island, though 

 I have not myself seen it. The Rabbit is pretty common : it abounds 

 in the desertas. As we have neither Hares, Foxes, Shrews, Moles, nor 

 Weasels, so of the Birds we have no Crows nor Rooks, Daws, Mag- 

 pies, Sparrows, (Fringilla Petronia, Linn., takes the place of the 

 latter, at least in Porto Santo,) no Titmice, Yellow-hammers, &c." 



A letter was read, addressed to Mr. Vigors by James Prinsep, 

 Esq., and dated Calcutta, March 9, 1833. It accompanied a list of 

 numerous zoological specimens forwarded to the Society by B. H. 

 Hodgson, Esq., Corr. Memb. Z.S., Resident in Nepal ; and also 

 of a large collection of living Pheasants, Partridges, &c, obtained 

 by that gentleman at the request of the Council for transmission 

 to England. On this list Mr. Prinsep had noted the condition 

 of the various articles at the time of their arrival in Calcutta, by 

 which it appeared that many of the birds had died during their 

 journey from the interior. Of the Monal or Impeyan Pheasant, only 

 two remained alive from among seventeen sent; and of these two, 

 one was reported to be dying. 



The gizzard, liver, duodenum, and adjacent parts, and the cloaca, 

 were exhibited of the young concave Hornbill, Buceros cavatus, 

 Lath., which recently died at the Society's Gardens; and Mr. Owen 

 read his " Account of the Anatomy" of the bird, an abstract of 

 which forms part of the " Proceedings." 



Mr. Owen concluded this paper by some remarks on the affinities 



