29 



Trias. — A second paper by Dr. J. W. Gregory related to the classification 

 of the Palaeozoic Ophiurids. — A communication was read from the Rev. O. 

 Pickard Cambridge, F.R.S., containing descriptions of four new or little- 

 known Spiders (Araneidea) from Ceylon, Borneo, and South America. — A 

 communication from Dr. Robert O. Cunningham related to the occurrence 

 of a pair of supernumerary bones in the skull of a Lemur, and to a pecu- 

 liarity which he had noted in the skull of a young Orang. — A communi- 

 cation was read from Dr. Alph. Dubois, C.M.Z.S., in which he gave the 

 description of a new African Trogon from Lake Tanganyika, proposed to be 

 named Hapalodertna riißventt-is. — P. L, Sclater, Secretary. 



2. New York Academy of Science, Biological Section. 



December 14, 1896. — Dr. Arnold Graf made a preliminary report on 

 "Some New Fixing Fluids." — Mr. J. H. McGregor, read a paper entitled 

 ''An Embryo of Cryptohranchusy The embryo described is about 16 milli- 

 metres long, and is the first to be recorded of this species. Prominent among 

 its external features are the excessive amount of yolk, the marked ventral 

 flexure in the cervical region and the very early and almost simultaneous 

 appearance of the two pairs of limbs. The dorsal surface is pigmented, the 

 pigment cells being arranged in transverse bands, one band over each meta- 

 mere of the body. Lateral line sense-organs can be distinguished. Among 

 the most striking internal characters may be mentioned the dorso-ventral 

 flattening of the notochord, the late appearance of entoderm and alimentary 

 organs generally, — due doubtless to the great mass of the yolk. The primor- 

 dial skull is unusually well developed. The auditory vescicle has an endolym- 

 phatic duct ending blindly immediately under the skin on the top of the head. 

 Along the sides of the body a system of organs occurs which are probably 

 homologous with the embryonic sense-organs described by Beard in the 

 sharks. — Dr. J. L. Wortman spoke of the '"'' Ganodonta^^ a new and pri- 

 mitive suborder of the Edentata from the Eocene of North America. One 

 section or family of the suborder, viz.: the Stylinodontidae, is composed of 

 Hemiganus, Psittacotherium^ Ectoganus and Stylinodon and forms a closely 

 connected and consecutive phylum — reaching from the base of the Puerco to 

 the Bridger formation and leading directly to the Gravigrada or ground sloths. 

 A second family, viz.: the Conoryctidae^ composed of Conoryctes and Onycho- 

 dectes may be regarded as ancestral to the Armadillos. The character and 

 origin of the Edentate fauna of South America was discussed at length and 

 the conclusion reached that its original home was in North America, It was 

 further held that there was a migration to the southward before the close of 

 the Eocene and that there must have then been an early land connection be- 

 tween the two continents. — C. L. Bristol, Secretary. 



3. Linnean Society of New South Wales. 



November 25*^, 1896. — 1) On the Comparative Anatomy of the Organ 

 of Jacobson in Marsupials. By R. Broom, M.D., B.Sc. A study of the 

 general anatomy and relation of Jacobson's Organ in representatives of 

 twelve genera has been made, and in most cases at difi'erent stages of deve- 

 lopment. The examination of the difi'erent varieties of structure afi'ords evi- 



