226 



continued contact with the alveolar ridge of the upper jaw. Un- 

 fortunately we have no history connected with the specimen, nor 

 any description of the appearance of tlie socket which held it. 



In reply to various questions, Capt. N. E. Atwood 

 stated that the rorquals or fin-back whales are considered 

 the swiftest of cetaceans, and are rarely attacked by 

 whalers, as they can do nothing with them, and even 

 when killed by a bomb-lance they afford comparatively 

 little oil. The food of the sperm whale, judging from 

 what they eject from the stomach when struck by the 

 harpoon, consists principally of large squids or cuttle- 

 fish. It is estimated that about one fifth of the yield of 

 oil may be generally set down as the amount of sperma- 

 ceti afforded by a sperm whale. 



Dr. B. J.- Jeffries announced that he had made an experiment 

 of injecting 2 drachms of pure honey into the dorsal sac of a 

 medium-sized frog ; the animal was kept from water, and died in 

 twenty -nine hours with convulsions ; twenty-one hours after death 

 there was no appearance of cataract on dissection. 



Dr. Henry Bryant read the following paper on two 

 birds from Bogota : — 



In the Revufe Zoologique for 1848, Lafresnaye describes a 

 species of thrush under the name of Turdus minimus. Sclater, 

 in his list of Bogota birds, published in the Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society for 1854 and 1855, mentions this species with 

 a doubt as to its specific value ; and in his synopsis of American 

 Tardidce^ published in the same journal for 1859, quotes it as 

 synonym of Turdus Sivainsonii, (Cab.) The specimens of this 

 thrush in my cabinet which agree with Lafresnaye's description 

 are certainly specifically distinct from the North American T. 

 Swainsonii, and are more easily recognized than some of the 

 other closely allied species of this difficult group. It is much 

 smaller in every respect, — being one inch shorter, 6 inches in 

 length instead of 7 ; the wing 3.75 instead of 4.15 ; tail 2. GO instead 

 of o.lO ; tarsus 1 instead of 1.12. The bill is broader and stouter, 



