LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 1 3 



Mr. W. Bateson, F.E.S., Miss A. Lorrain Smith, Dr. Ethel N. 

 Thomas, and Mr. A. A. Pearson engaged in a discussion, the 

 Author replying. 



April 18th, 1918. 



Sir David Prain, C.M.G., CLE., F.E.S., President, 

 in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the General Meeting of the 21st March, 1918, 

 were read and conhrmed. 



The report of tlie Donations received since the last General 

 Meeting was laid before the Fellows, and the thanks of the Society 

 to the several Donors were ordered. 



Mr. James Small, M.Sc. (Lond.), was admitted a Fellow. 



The Eev. Canon George Russell Bulloek- Webster, M.A. 

 (Cantab.), Heber Albert Longman, and Arthur William Rymer 

 Roberts, were proposed as Fellows. 



The President announced a vacancy in the list of Associates 

 due to the death of Mr. Ernest David Marquand. 



The following Auditors were nominated : — For the Council : 

 Mr. E. T. Bkowne and Mr. G. W. E. Lodeb ; For the Fellows : 

 Mr. T. A. Dymes and Mr. W. Bareatt, and they were elected by 

 show of hands. 



Prof. J. P. Hill, F.R.S., F.L.S., then gave an account of his 

 expedition to Brazil in 1913, due to grants from the Government 

 Grant Committee and Council of the Royal Society, and the 

 Trustees of the Percy Sladen Fund. The primary object Mas to 

 obtain material for studjnng the development of certain American 

 Marsupials, the most familiar being the American Opossum. 

 When the expedition was organized, our knowledge of the 

 development of Didelpliys rested on the incomplete account given 

 by Emil Selenka in 188(5 ; the author's own observations on the 

 Australian native Cat, Dasj/urns, differed essentially from Selenka's 

 statements, and it was hoped to get the material for a renewed 

 study of the former. Another point was to determine the 

 development of those genera regarded on anatomical grounds as 

 nearest the base of the Didelphyd series, namely Marmosa and 

 Peramys ; these are small rat-like creatures, remarkable for the 

 entire absence of the poucli so characteristic of the other members 

 of the order. The author was accompanied by his friend and 

 former pupil, Mr. G. S. Sansom, B.Sc, now Major, R.A.F. 



