154 Zoological Society. 



only a slightly depressed cone, while the last is altogether very flat), 

 lineolata, Pica, subrugosa, Iceviuscula, and maura. 



Mr. Owen read some Notes (given in the ' Proceedings,') of a 

 Dissection of a long-tailed Dasyurus, Dasyurus macrourus, Geoff., 

 which recently died at the Society's Gardens. He stated in the 

 course of these notes that the subject was a female, adult, weighing 

 31bs. 8-J- oz., and measuring from the extremity of the jaws to the 

 root of the tail 1 foot 4 inches, the length of the tail being 1 foot 

 2-J- inches, and that of the head 4 inches. The vaginal orifice and 

 the anus were situated within a common outlet, just below the root 

 of the tail. There were six nipples, arranged three on either side, 

 describing three quarters of a circle, and seated within a slight fold 

 of integument, of a corresponding shape, 3 inches anterior to the 

 cloacal outlet. 



The external oblique abdominal muscle terminated below in a 

 strong tendon, which was folded inwards, like Poupart's ligament. 

 The abdominal ring consisted of a slit, bounded externally by Pou- 

 part's ligament, and internally by the marsupial bone: and Mr. 

 Owen stated it to be his opinion that the marsupial bones are essen- 

 tially ossifications of the tendons of the external abdominal muscle 

 which constitute the internal or mesial pillars or boundaries of the 

 abdominal rings. The transversalis abdominis and internal oblique 

 muscle were distinct. 



The pancreas was a broad, flattened, branched gland, with a pro- 

 cess given off at the splenic end from the main body, so as to pro- 

 duce, in a transverse section, the figure of the letter T. The pan- 

 creatic duct joined the biliary just at its termination. The spleen 

 was situated sinistrad and dorsad of the stomach : its weight was 6-§. 

 drachms. Its form was compressed, trihedral and T-shaped, as in the 

 Kangaroo, but its lesser process was not so long as in that animal. 

 Mr. Owen considers this form as indicative of a relation, hitherto un- 

 suspected, between the spleen and the pancreas, the small process of 

 the former corresponding to that of the latter. 



Mr. Owen also read his Notes on the Anatomy of the red-backed 

 Pelican of Dr. Latham, Pelecanus rufescens, Gmel., which also are 

 printed in the ' Proceedings ' of the Society. The following are ex- 

 tracts from them : 



" The Pelican which I dissected measured 3 feet 7 inches from the 

 extremity of the beak to the vent, and 10^ inches from the extre- 

 mity of the upper mandible to the nostrils. These are almost con- 

 cealed slits in the lateral grooves of the upper mandible, just anterior 

 to the skin of the head. They will barely admit the flat end of a 

 probe; and lead almost vertically to the internal apertures of the 

 nasal cavity. The air-cells in the Pelican, as in the nearly allied 

 Bird the Gannet, Sula Bassana, Temm., are remarkably extended* and 

 diffused over the body : the whole cellular tissue, even to the tips of 

 the wings and the end of the fleshy part of the legs, can be blown 

 up from the trachea. 



" The extent to which the skeleton of the Pelican is permeated by 



