m 



were characterized as new. — Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., read a note upon 

 the presence of intercentra in the vertebral column of Birds. The existence 

 of free intercentra in the caudal region was described in a number of genera 

 belonging to many families of birds. — P. L. Sclater, Secretary. 



18th May, 1897. — Mr. Sclater exhibited a plan of the new Zoolo- 

 gical Garden attached to the Para Museum, Brazil, and called attention to 

 the description of it recently published in the 'Der Zoologische Garten' by 

 Herr Meerwarth. — Mr. Sclater exhibited the skin of a Penguin which he 

 had received in exchange from the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle of Paris as a 

 specimen of Microdi/ptes serresianus (Oust.); and read a note from Mr. Ogilvie- 

 Grant, according to which this specimen was only an immature example of 

 the Rock-hopper Penguin [Eudijptes chrysocome) . — Mr. R. E. Holding ex- 

 hibited a skull of a Theban Goat [Capra hircus, var. t/iebaica), and made 

 remarks on the shortening of the skull in this and other domesticated ani- 

 mals. — Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., read a paper entitled "A Revision 

 of the Lizards of the Genus Sceloporus.^^ From a study of the large mass of 

 material in the British Museum, the author had come to the conclusion that 

 the difficult genus Sceloporus, so far as was at present known, consisted of 

 32 species. Nearly all the specimens examined, with the exception of very 

 young ones, had been measured, and their dimensions and the number of 

 scales and femoral pores possessed by each of them were recorded in the 

 paper. One new species [Sceloporus asper) was described. — Dr. G. Herbert 

 Fowler read the second of a series of papers "On the Plankton of the 

 Faeroe Channel," which dealt with the distribution of Conchoecia maxima (a 

 midwater or mesoplankton form), with the European species of Tomopteris, 

 and with the distribution of Traeheloteuthis Riisei. — Mr. Martin Ja cob y 

 contributed the second part of a paper "On the Phytophagous Coleoptera of 

 Africa and Madagascar." Nine new genera and 80 new species of the fa- 

 milies Eumolpinae, Haläcmae, and Galerucinae were described. — Mr. W. 

 G. Ride wood, F.Z.S., read a paper on the "Structure and Development 

 of the Hyobranchial Skeleton of Pelodytes punctatus^^ in which he showed 

 that the dismemberment of the hyoidean cornua, the formation of the lateral 

 foramina, and the almost complete enclosure of the hyoglossal sinus — fea- 

 tures which render the hyobranchial skeleton of the adult Pelodytes so re- 

 markable — are peculiarities which arise quite late, when the metamorphosis 

 is nearly complete. Allusion was made to the fact that the persistent inner 

 boundary of the thyroid foramen develops into the thyrohyal of the adult, and 

 the suggestion was thrown out that this might prove to be the normal mode 

 of development for the thyrohyal in the Anura generally. The author also 

 discussed the morphological value of the branchial spicula of the larva, and 

 the mode of development of the antero-lateral and postero-lateral processes 

 of the adult hyobranchial skeleton. — Messrs. Oldfield Thomas, F.Z.S., 

 and R. Lydekker, F.R.S., contributed a paper on the number of grind- 

 ing-teeth possessed by the Manatee. From an examination of several spe- 

 cimens of this animal it had been ascertained that the number of its grind- 

 ing-teeth was not a fixed one, but that it developed a continuous and inde- 

 finite number to replace those which had become worn away by the sand 

 which was necessarily present in somewhat large quantities in its food of 

 water-weeds. — P. L. Sclater, Secretary. 



