14 



racters were the perforation of the gill-septum , found also in Arnoglossus 

 megastoma, and the prolongation of the dorsal and ventral fins on to the right 

 side at the base of the tail. The marked peculiarity of habit was that of 

 adhering to vertical surfaces. It was shown that this was independent of 

 either of the characters'mentioned , and was due to the pumping-action of 

 the longitudinal fins and their muscles posteriorly, the enlargement of these 

 parts being also a generic character. No evidence of the utility of the 

 specific characters could be discovered. The characters of other Pleuro- 

 nectidae were similarly examined, and the conclusion reached was that there 

 are two kinds of characters, the adaptive and the morphological. — Mr. A. 

 Smith Woodward read a description of the so-called Salmonoid fishes of 

 the English Chalk, dealing with the osteology of Osmeroides lewesiensis, 

 Elopnpsis crassus, and Aulolepis typus. He directed special attention to three 

 features in the head of the genera to which these species are referred, 

 namely: (1) the exclusion of the supraoccipital from the cranial roof by the 

 union of the parietal bones in the median line , (2) the overlapping of the 

 arched maxilla by two large supramaxillary bones, and (3) the presence of 

 a large gular plate. All these characters separated the fishes in question 

 from the typical Salmonidae , while the first and third distinguished them 

 from typical Clupeidae. All three genera should be associated with the 

 existing Elops , Megalops , and their allies. — Mr. W, Garstang, F.Z.S., 

 read a paper on the Gastropod Colpodaspis pusilla of Michael Sars. Mr. 

 Garstang described a specimen of this rare Mollusk found by him at Ply- 

 mouth in the early part of the year. The anterior part of the foot was not 

 really bifid, as stated by Sars, but possessed a pair of large prolongations of 

 its antero-lateral angles , analogous to the anterior pedal cornua of many 

 Aeolids. In this case , however , they were probably to be regarded as 

 homologous with the pleuropodial expansions of the Tectibranchia, The 

 bulloid shell, the radula, and the posterior appendage of the mantle pointed 

 to the close affinity of Colpodaspis with the Cephalaspidea; but the great 

 extent of the mantle, the small head, and the grooved tentacles were impor- 

 tant and primitive characters which it shared with the Notaspidea. Whether 

 Colpodaspis was an immature stage of some Philine-\\ke genus or not, it 

 furnished an indubitable connecting-link between these two great subdi- 

 visions of the Tectibranchia. — A communication from Mr. A. D. Bartlett 

 gave an account of the recent occurrence in the Society's Menagerie of a case 

 of one Boa swallowing another of nearly equal size. — A communication 

 from Prof. R. Collett, F.M.Z.S,, contained a description of a new Agonoid 

 fish from Kamtschatka proposed to be called Agonus Gilberd. — P. L. S da- 

 ter, Secretary. 



2. Linnean Society of New South Wales. 



October 31st, 1894. — 1) Notes of a Visit to the Island of Erromanga, 

 New Hebrides, in May, 1894. By Sutherland Sinclair. — 2) Preliminary 

 Communication on the Cerebral Commissures of the Mammalia, with special 

 reference to Monotremata and Marsupialia. By G. Elliott Smith, M.B. 

 From an examination of the brain in Platgpus, Echidna, Pemmcles, kangaroo, 

 wallaby, kangaroo rat, Dasyurus and F/ialangisia, the superior commissure 

 of the cerebrum is shown to be homologous with the psalterium of Placen- 

 talia, and not with the corpus callosum, since it is wholly derived, as shown 

 by Weigert-Pal and Golgi staining, from cells of the fascia dentata and from 



