263 



mer, d. h. Turbellarien, denselben Modus zeigen, so wird man wohl 

 die Schlussfolgerung, dass die intracellulare Verdauung eine ursprüng- 

 liche Erscheinung bei Metazoen bildet und auch bei den Urahnen der 

 letzteren die Regel war, rechtfertigen. Eine derartige Verdauungs- 

 weise setzt aber durchaus nicht nothwendig eine besondere Ver- 

 dauungshöhle voraus, welche demnach als eine secundär erworbene 

 Bildung angesehen werden muss. Von diesem Gesichtspuncte aus 

 lassen sich viele ontogenetische Erscheinungen bei Coelenteraten er- 

 klären, welche mit der Gastraeatheorie nicht in Einklang gebracht 

 werden können, wie es in einer nächsten Publication von mir gezeigt 

 werden soll. 



Den 24. April 1880. 



III. Mittheilungen aus Instituten, Gesellschaften etc. 



1. Zoological Society of London. 



6th April, 1880. — The Secretary, some extracts from letters which 

 he had received from Mr. W. A. Conklin, of New York, relating to the birth 

 of an Elephant which had lately taken place in a travelling Menagerie at 

 Philadelphia. — Prof. T. H. Huxley, F. R. S., read a paper on the di- 

 stinctive characters of the species of the genus Cants, as shown in certain 

 points of the structure of their skulls and in the proportions of their teeth. 

 — Dr. Francis Day read a paper on the Fishes of Afghanistan, based prin- 

 cipally upon a collection which had been made for him in the highlands of 

 Kelat and Quettah, by Dr. Duke. — A communication was read from Prof. 

 Julius Von Haast, F. R. S., containing a description of a specimen of a 

 rare Ziphioid Whale [Epiodon novae- zealandiae] , which had been cast ashore 

 at New Brighton, New Zealand, in July, 1878. — P. L. Sclater, Secretary. 



2. Linnean Society of London. 



ist April, 1880. — Only two short zoological papers were read viz.: — 

 Description of a new genus [Pyramocera] of moth of the family Liparidae 

 from Madagascar by A. G. Butler and a notice of marine crustaceans col- 

 lected by P. Geddes at Vera Cruz, by Edw. J. Miers. The Vera Cruz 

 Crustacea included : — a female and immature male of a species of Panopeus: 

 examples of Pachygrapsus sodus, which is very probably merely a variety of 

 P. transversus as it is distinguished only by the absence of the dark patch on 

 the immobile finger, which is always present in the typical P. transversus ; and 

 a series of females of a species of Pinnotheres, possibly the P. angelicus of 

 Lockiugton. 



