70 Zoological Society* 



superadded to the manubrium. This part is evidently a rudimentary 

 form of the Y-shaped bone placed anterior to the manubrium of the 

 Ornithorhynchus, which Cuvier regards as analogous to the osfurca- 

 torium of birds ; it thus affords an additional and very interesting ex- 

 ample of the affinity of the Edentata to the Monotremata, and supplies 

 a step which was wanting in tracing the recedence of the latter, in 

 their remarkably constructed sternum, from the mammiferous to the 

 oviparous type of the Vertebrata. The manubrium itself also presents 

 a peculiarity observable in that of the Monotremata, viz., a mesial 

 longitudinal ridge on the anterior surface. This appearance in the 

 Ornithorhynchus is regarded by Cuvier as indicative of an original 

 division in the bone itself, ' Ossemens Fossiles/ v. pt. 1, p. 149 ; but 

 Mr. Owen has examined the fetus of the ninebanded species, and find 

 that ossification commences in the manubrium by a single central nu- 

 cleus, and not by two lateral depositions. The other bones of the 

 sternum appear on an anterior view, to be almost deficient, being 

 wedge-shaped, with the apices anterior ; their number is four, ex- 

 clusive of the ensiform cartilage. 



The caudal vertebrce, like the cervical, present in Dasypus a pe- 

 culiarity which is also found in the Cetacea, viz. that of having infe- 

 rior spines, or V-shaped bones. These are present beneath all but 

 the two last vertebrce ; they are of a triangular form, but are articu- 

 lated, not by their bases, as in the Whale, but by their apices ; or 

 rather the part which corresponds to the apex is flattened, and pro- 

 duced into two lateral processes. 



August 14. — Specimens were exhibited of the following Fishes col- 

 lected on the coast of Madeira by the Rev. R. T. Lowe, and present- 

 ed by him to the Society : 



Alepisaurus ferox, Lowe ; Box Salpa, Cuv. & Val. ; Raja clavata, 

 Linn. ; Torpedo marmorata, Risso ; Rhombus Maderensis, Lowe ; 

 Caranx Cuv. j Pagellus breviceps? Cuv. & Val.; Acarna, Cuv. 

 &Val. 



At the request of the Chairman, the Rev. L. Jenyns exhibited an 

 immature specimen of a second species of crested Wren, not hitherto 

 recorded as having been met with in England ; the Regulus ignica- 

 pillus, Temm. The individual exhibited was killed by a cat at Swaff- 

 ham in Cambridgeshire. 



Mr. Jenyns also exhibited a specimen of Sorer remifer, Geoff., killed 

 in a corn-field at the distance of half a mile from any water. Its- 

 chief interest was the confirmation afforded by it of the existence 

 in England of this species, which has recently been added by Mr. 

 Yarrell to the British Fauna on the authority of a specimen exhi- 

 bited by him at a late Meeting of the Committee (see vol. i. p. 460). 



Specimens were exhibited of a species of Woodpecker, hitherto un- 

 described, which had recently been obtained by Mr. Gould from that 

 little-explored district of California which borders .the territory of 

 Mexico. The exhibition was accompanied by a communication from 

 Mr. Gould, in which, after some general remarks on the Picidcc and 

 their geographical distribution, he referred to the species before the 

 Committee as possessing the characters of the genus Picus in their 

 most marked development,, together with the greatest size hitherto 



