PnOOEKDINOS OF SOCIKTIRS, 63 



work. The study of these beautiful and truly interesting creatures is yet 

 comparatively in its infancy, and it is probable that many new and elegant 

 forms remain to be discovered by future observers. One very elegant Lepralia, 

 figured, we believe, for the first time by Dr. Landsborough, and named 

 Oattyoe, after its recent discoverer Mrs. Gatty, is remarkable for the extreme 

 beauty of the pencilling upon its surface, and had doubtless been overlooked 

 very many times by less careful observers. 



There is one strikingly useful feature in the work, which is that, we 

 believe, no term used in the description of the genera or species is unrepresented 

 in the glossary which occupies the concluding pages. It is amply full, and 

 the meanings of the terms are well and clearly expressed, so that no one 

 need be in any difficulty as to the meaning of any description he may 

 encounter. 



No one at all interested in the subject would ever, we believe, regret the 

 few shillings necessary for the purchase of this very pretty and useful work. 



l^nraMiigjs nf Inriftku. 



Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh. — The third mooting of this Socioty for the present 

 session was held in the Institution Rooms, 6, York Place, on Saturday, January 8th., at two 

 o'clock p. M., — Professor Fleming, D. D., President, in the chair. 



The first business before the Society was the Exhibition of a Collection of Stereoscopic 

 Photographs, by John Stewart, Esq. 



The second communication, by Hugh Miller, Esq., was entitled "On Bothrodendron, 

 Ulodendron, Stigmaria, and other characteristic plants of the Carboniferous Period; with 

 restoration of Sphcnopteris ekgans." 



The third was a "Notice of the Octopus octopodia." by John Stewart, Esq. Mr. Stewart 

 referred to the description given in Fleming's British Animals, page 254; and stated that the 

 specimen he exliibited was caught on a hook in the Bay of Luce, October 26th., 18o2. Its 

 dimensions were as follows: — Length of body, about three inches and three-quarters; breadth, 

 two inches and three-quarters; length of head, an inch and a half; breadth, an inch and 

 three-quarters; length of arms, nine inches; but the lowest arm on the left side was only 

 seven inches long. He had taken three spetamens last j'ear in Loch Eyan, and two in Morecombe 

 Bay, North Lancashire. Mr. Stewart also stated that Mr. George Wilson, who had sent him 

 this specimen, informed him tliat an Albicore had been taken last year in a salmon bag net 

 at Strathaven, which was twenty-five inches in length, seventeen in girth, and weighed ten 

 pounds. 



James C. IIowden, Esq., M. D., then read a communication entitled "Notes on Marine 

 Zoology." 



Dr. John Alex. Smfth next exhibited a specimen of a Duck which was shot in December, 

 1851, near the Bass Rock, by some boatmen, wlio brought it, from its unusual appearance, 

 to one of the Edinburgh bird-stuffers. Dr. Smith said he had been puzzled to find out what 

 it was; but by the kind assistance of one of our celebrated ornithologists, he learned that it 

 was a "West Indian species, — the Bahama Duck,-— the Anas Bahamensis of Catesby's Carolina, — 

 the A. urophasianus of Vigors, Zoological Journal, vol. iv., page 337, — the Dajila urophasianus 

 of Eyton's Duck Tribe, — and the Urophasianus Vigorsii of Beechy's Voyage, &c., &c., — the 

 inference being, that it had probably escaped from confinement. Dr. Smith said there were 

 no individuals of this species in the Zoological Gardens here, or amongst the collection at 

 Gosford House; and, indeed, he was quite unable to leai-n of any being kept in confinement 

 either immediately to the south or north of the Firth of Forth. He was informed that three 

 living specimens are at present in the collection of the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, 



