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when full-grown, they fullj^ equalled in size. — Mr. E. W. H. Ho Id s - 

 worth exhibited a specimen of White's Thrush [Turdus varius) , killed in 

 South Devonshire in January last. — Mr. C. O. Waterhouse read a 

 paper on the Coleopterous Insects belonging to the family Hispidae, collected 

 by Mr. Buckley in Ecuador. Seventeen species of Hispidae had hitherto been 

 recorded as inhabiting that country ; of these Mr. Buckley had met with 

 fifteen, which, together with nineteen new species, made a total of thirty- 

 six species in the series now described. — Mr. W. L. Distant read a paper 

 on some additions which had been lately made to the Rhynchotal Fauna of the 

 Ethiopian Region, nine new species belonging to the families Pentatomidae , 

 Coreidae and Pyrrhocoridae were pointed out , and in the Coreidae two new 

 genera, allied to Petillia and Petascelis, were described. The specimens had 

 been obtained from Western, Southern, and Eastern Africa. — A communi- 

 cation was read from Mr. Edgar A. Smith on some shells from lakes Tan- 

 ganyika and Nyassa and from other localities in East Africa, lately received 

 by the British Museum. Great interest attached to some of the shells from 

 Lake Tanganyika, from the fact that they had all the appearance of being 

 modified marine types. — Lord Walsingham read a paper on some new 

 and little known species of North American Tineidae, amongst which were 

 three new generic forms. — P. L. S dater, Secretary. 



3. Linnean Society of London. 



Nov. 18. 1880. — Dr. Geo. E. Dob son exhibited a remarkable para- 

 sitic worm from the intestines of Megaderma frons, from the Gold Coast. 

 It appears allied to Pterygodermatites plagiostnnia Wedl, from the Long-eared 

 Hedgehog, though on first hasty examination he (Dr. Dobson) had been dis- 

 posed to regard it as a new genus, Metahdella. Dr. MacDonald further 

 drew attention to its peculiar anatomical structure and relationships. 

 Dr. Cob bold agreed to the importance of the observations as verifying 

 previous discoveries, with addition of novel structural details. He considered 

 the worm as identical with the Ophiostonmni of Rudolphi and Willemoes- 

 Suhm, with. Pterygodermatites of Wedl, and wiih. Rictularia of Frölich, and he 

 regarded it as an aberrant member of the Ophiostomidae , whereas Wedl 

 thought it came nearest the Cheirocanthidea. — Dr. Cobb old also ex- 

 hibited specimens of Distoma crassmn Busk (previously in 1875 shown to the 

 Society), from a Chinese missionary who, on return to China with his wife 

 and daughter, were again aU attacked by the parasite^ and obliged to return 

 to England. — A paper on the classification of the Gasteropoda (P. 2.) was 

 read by Dr. J. Dennis MacDonald. In this communication the author 

 gives further data in support of his mode of arranging the group dependent 

 on anatomical characters. 



Dec. 2. 1880. — Mr. George Brook exhibited specimens of the phos- 

 phorescent Noctiluca miliaris, taken from the surface of the sea at the mouth 

 of the Thames , and immediately thereafter placed in a weak solution of 

 osmic acid, when shape etc., was perfectly retained. — Prof. T. Spencer 

 Cobb old drew attention to a specimen of a rare Chinese fluke {Distoma 

 sine7ise), showing the internal organs, especially the vitellary sacs, ova, and 

 reproductive parts generally. — A paper »Notes on British Tunicata« 

 (Ascidiidae, part 1.) by Mr. W. A. Herdman, was read by the Secretary. 



