140 



of the skin, and the horny Epithelium are very much thickened, and it is 

 apparent that between the horny layer granular masses apparently parasites 

 are disposed in which nuclei can be detected. The Author supposes these to 

 be an Amoeba, and to cause by irritation the hypertrophy of the Epithelium. 

 The sections were exhibited under the microscope, the specimens were har- 

 dened with chromic acid and stained with picric-acid-carmin. — 4. On the 

 Temperature of the Body of Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. By N. de Mi- 

 klouho-Maclay. The result of some observations on the temperature of 

 the Ornithorhynchus is here given, showing it not to exceed 40° C. or 76° 

 Fahr. Previous observations made by the Baron had shown that the tempera- 

 ture of the body of the Echidna was at least 5° Fahr, higher that of the other 

 Monotreme. — Mr. W. H. Caldwell, B.A., exhibited several specimens 

 which he had recently obtained in Queensland, showing the stages in the 

 development of the Monotremes from the laying of the e^^ to the hatching. 

 — Mr. J. Mitchell of Bowning, exhibited a large number of Silurian 

 fossils collected by him in the neighbourhood of Bowning. They consisted 

 of a variety of Molluscs, Corals and about sixteen species of Trilobites. 

 Among the Trilobites are Phacops caudatuSj P. longicaudatus, P. encrinurus 

 punctatus, and P. Jamesii (?) Calymene [Lenaria?), Harpes ungula, Staiiro- 

 cephalus 3Iurchisonn, JBronteus, and several of the genus Acidaspis one of 

 which attained a considerable size. The molluscs included representatives 

 of Pentamerus, Orthoceras, Avicula, Strophomena, etc. — Mr. Mac le ay ex- 

 hibited a specimen of Ophiophagus elaps, a venemous snake of the Indian 

 region, and the largest known species of the venemous Colubrine snakes. 

 He had received it from the Rev. J. E. Tenison- Woods from Perak. The 

 specimen measured 142 inches in length, but the species had been known 

 to attain a length of 170 inches. As its name implies it preys on other 

 snakes, and its venom is so deadly, that it is said to kill a man in three 

 minutes and an elephant in a couple of hours. — Mr. Gervase F. Mathew, 

 F.L.S., of H.M.S. Espiègle, exhibited four boxes containing a collection of 

 many hundred Lepidopterous Insects, which he had obtained during his last 

 cruise on the South East Coast of New Guinea. The collection contained a 

 few Microlepidoptera, but by far the greater part of it consisted of Diurnal 

 Butterflies of the most gorgeous hues and of wonderful variety. — Mr. 

 E. P. Ramsay, F.R.S.E., exhibited for Mr. E. G. W.Palmer a native Bees' 

 Nest which had been obtained in the neighbourhood of Smithfield. For the 

 last seven years it had been suspended from a branch of a pear tree in Mr. 

 Palmer's garden, and a quart of honey had often been obtained from it, but 

 during the last winter a caterpillar formed its cocoon in the only aperture 

 and so effectually closed it that all the bees were killed. — Drawings were 

 exhibited of some fossil bones which Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald, F.L.S., had re- 

 ceived from Lord Howe's Island. The bones have been forwarded to Sir 

 Richard Owen, and are believed to be those of two species of extinct lizards, 

 probably allied to the gigantic horned Megalania and Noäosaurus, which have 

 been found in the Pleistocene deposits in Queensland and New South Wales. 



Berichtigung. 

 In No. 181 des Zool. Anz. sind auf p. G24 Z. 2 v. o. am Ende die Worte hinzu- 

 zufügen ; »by the Author«. 



In No. 187 p. 84 Z. 16 v. o. ist zu lesen »Max« anstatt »Al.« 



Druck von Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig. 



Da ich vom 15. März bis 14. April von Leipzig abwesend sein werde, bitte ich 

 Mittheihmgen, die einer sofortigen Beantwortung bedürfen, mir bis zum 12. März 

 zugehen zu lassen. J. Victor Carus« 



