494 Entomological Society. 



greater wing-coverts, primaries, secondaries, tertiaries, the tips of 

 the two central and the whole of the lateral tail-feathers, which are 

 of a rich chocolate-brown ; irides yellow ; naked skin of the face and 

 chin in dead specimen dull bluish black ; legs greenish blue. 



Total length, 29 inches; bill, 5; wing, 16^; tail, 8^; tarsi, 2^. 



Hab. North and north-east coasts of Australia. 



Remark. — A very robust and powerful species. 



The following Note on the Spermatozoa of the Polar Bear, by 

 George Gulliver, Esq., F.R.S., was read: — 



The question of the true nature of these curious bodies is as inter- 

 esting as it is obscure. Whether they be independent animalcules 

 or merely free and floating cilia has never been clearly proved. 



Professor Valentin*, indeed, described an amount of organization 

 in the spermatozoa of a Bear, quite sufficient, if confirmed, to prove 

 that they are really distinct beings. Therefore I took an oppor- 

 tunity of obtaining them for examination from the Polar Bear which 

 died this morning in the Society's menagerie. The animal was a 

 very large adult, in good condition ; his testes well- developed, con- 

 taining in the seminal tubes plenty of cells and immature sperma- 

 tozoa, and an abundance of them perfectly formed in the vas defe- 

 rens. These were carefully examined. They presented none of the 

 marks of mouth, anus and internal vesicles depicted by Professor 

 Valentin. In short, the spermatozoa of the Polar Bear were similar 

 in all respects to those of numerous other Mammalia, as may be seen 

 by comparing my drawings, now exhibited to the Society, of the 

 spermatozoa of the following animals, viz. the Polar Bear (Ursus 

 maritimus, Linn.), the Stoat (Mustela Erminea, Linn.), the Indian 

 Badger {Arctonyx collaris, F. Cuv,), the Dromedary (Camelus Dro- 

 medarius, Linn.), and the Camel {Camelus Bactrianus, Auct.). I 

 gave a notice of the spermatozoa of the two last animals in the Proc. 

 of this Society, July 26, 1842, p. 101, and April 11, 1843, p. 50. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



January 6th, 1845. — G. Newport, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Mr. F. Bond exhibited a specimen of Damophila Trifolii, together 

 with the portable case formed by its larva, thus proving its affinity 

 to the genus Porrectaria. 



February 3rd.— G. Newport, Esq., President, in the Chair. 



Mr. A. White exhibited specimens of the Chinese Rhomborhina 

 resplendens from Mr. Harrington's collection, Goliathus (Compsoce- 

 phalus) Horsfieldianus from Abyssinia, and drawings of some species 

 of Coccinella brought from Asia Minor by Professor Forbes. 



Mr. E. Doubleday exhibited a drawing of an aberrant species of 

 Diadema resembling the genus Acrcea in its colouring, especially A. 

 Zidora, &c., and which he proposed to name Diadema Boisduvalii. 



* Wagner's Physiology, tr. by Dr. Willis, p. 228 ; 8vo, Lond. 1844. 



