279 



kable, not only by the possession of both fixed and movable nematophore, in 

 accordance with which, like Heieroploti of the »Challenger« collection it holds a 

 position intermediate between the typical Eleutheroplean and the Stetoplean 

 genera — but by the fact that every hydrocladium is supported on a cylindrical 

 pointed peduncle. Among other remarkable and significant forms is one to 

 which the author gives the name of Thuiaria heteromorpha. In this are found 

 combined in the same hydrophyton no less than three morphological types 

 which if occurring separately would be justly regarded as representing three 

 genera, Thuiaria, Dermoscyphiis, and Sertularia. Notwithstanding this sin- 

 gular combination of forms, the author does not believe that the characters 

 of the specimen justifies the construction of a new genus; and he regarded 

 the generic position of the hydroid as determined by that one of the three 

 forms which most decidedly prevails in it. Thuiaria heteromorpha, thus shows 

 in a very marked way the indefiniteness of the boundaries between difi'erent 

 zoological groups, and calls to mind a phenomenon known to occur among 

 plants, as in certain epiphytical orchids, in which the same stem has been 

 observed to carry flowers referable to several generic types. — J. Murie. 



3. Linnean Society of New South Wales. 



25th February, 1885. — 1. On some Reptiles from the Herbert River 

 District, Queensland. By William Macleay, F.L.S., etc. Five new species 

 are here described, Hinulia piota, and Tetradactylus guttulatus of the Family 

 Scincidae, and of Ophidians Nardoa crassa, Tropidonotus ater and Hoploce- 

 phalus assimilis. — 2. Notes on certain Ceylonese Coleoptera, decribed by 

 the late Francis "Walker. By A. Sydney Olliff, Esq. In these Notes Mr. 

 Olliff, who had examined Mr. Walker's types in the British Museum, endea- 

 vours to clear up the synonomy of the Clavicorn Families. The name Asana 

 was proposed for the Trogosita rhyzophagoides of Walker, which cannot be 

 referred to any known genus. In form it resembles Lipaspis, but is charac- 

 terised by the presence of a scutellum. — 3. On the Flight of Birds. By 

 R. von Lendenfeld, Ph.D. In this paper the author comments on the 

 recent ingenious conclusions of Müllenhofi", and also gives an explanation of 

 the mode in which Birds like Vultures circling in the air, can rise without 

 flapping their wings. — Mr. C. S. Wilkinson exhibited some Fossil Bones 

 which had been recently obtained from the coral sand rock on Lord Howe 

 Island. Amongst them was an almost complete skull somewhat resembling 

 that of the Horned Lizard Megalania prisca, from the Pleistocene deposits 

 on the Darling Downs, Queensland. — Mr. Wilkinson also exhibited 

 specimens of shells of oysters found in the beds of clay and sand at a depth 

 of 40 feet below the surface, in sinking the new shaft of the Bullock Island 

 and Wickham Coal Company near Newcastle. Mr. Brazier identified this 

 oyster, which must have been 12 inches in length, as a large form of the 

 Ostrea edulis. — Dr. J. Cox exhibited other specimens of the Ostrea edu- 

 lis from Port Jackson, and found firmly attached to a bottle. He pointed out 

 the great difi'erence between this oyster, which will not keep for more than 

 a day, and the English native oyster, and suggested that they are of separate 

 species. Mr. E. P. Ramsay mentioned that the same oyster in South Austra- 

 lia keeps well for many days, and was of opinion that they were the same 

 as the O. edulis of England. — Mr. Ramsay exhibited a Fossil phalanx of 

 Palaeorchestes, from Wellington Caves, from the size of which he calculated 



