47 



III. Mittheilungen aus Museen, Instituten etc. 



1. Zoological Society of London. 



13th December, 1881. — The Secretary read a Report on the addi- 

 tions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie during the month of 

 November, 1881, and called attention to certain interesting accessions which 

 had been received during that period. — Mr. Slater exhibited and made 

 remarks on two skins of a Rail from Macquarie Island, south of New Zea- 

 land, which had been sent to him by Sir George Grey, K.C.B., F.Z.S. — 

 Mr. H. Seebohm, F.Z.S., exhibited and made remarks on specimens of 

 the Rusty Grakle [Scolecophagus ferrugineus] and Pallas's Great Grey Shrike 

 [Lanius major] , which had been shot near Cardiff, and were new to the Bri- 

 tish avifauna. — A communication was read from Mr. Clements R. Mark- 

 ham, F.R.S., containing an account of his researches into the former 

 Whale-Fishery of the Basque Provinces of Spain. — Messrs. J. J. Lister 

 and J. J. Fletcher read a paper on the condition of the median portion of 

 the vaginal apparatus in the Macropodidae, in which they arrived at the fol- 

 lowing conclusions : — 1) In the Macropodidae the median vaginal canal is 

 closed in early life. 2) In the genera Macropus, Halmatitrus and Petrogale 

 (and perhaps also Dorcopsis and Dendralogus) an opening is formed, leading 

 directly from the median vaginal canal into the urogenital sinus , which 

 opening most probably gives passage to the young. This opening may be 

 formed early in life, as is usual in the genus Hahnaturns, or not till young 

 are about to be produced, as in Macropus riifus. 3) The evidence with re- 

 gard to Macropus major is conflicting ; in one case the median canal has been 

 found open after parturition, and in two others closed. 4) In Hypsiprymnr.s 

 Gaimardi (and probably also H. murinus] the median canal remains closed, 

 and the young passes down the lateral vaginal canals, which present a diffe- 

 rent structure from that found in the other examples of the Macropodidae. 



— A communication was read from the Rev. Canon Tristram, containing 

 the description of a new Fruit-Pigeon of the genus Carpophaga, from the 

 Louisiade Archipelago, which he proposed to name Carpophaga Salvadorii. 



— P. L. Sclater, Secretary. 



2. Linnean Society of London. 



November 3, 1881. — Prof. J. S. Cobbold exhibited under the mi- 

 croscope about a hundred eggs of Bilharzia haematobia. They were taken 

 from a Gentleman who had just arrived from Egypt and who was the victim 

 of haematuria, induced by the parasites in question, and supposed to have 

 been contracted during a hunting expedition. By adding water nearly all the 

 eggs were hatched during the meeting of the Society and the rare opportu- 

 nity was thus afforded of witnessing the behaviour of the newly born ciliated 

 animalcules. — Mr. R. MacLachlan exhibited and made remarks on a par- 

 thenogenetically - bred beetle [Gastrophysa raphani) . The specimen had been 

 the second reared by Dr. J. A. Osborne in Ireland. The egg which produced 

 it was one of a batch of 42 laid by a virgin female on the 14th June and 

 was hatched on the 24th. Moults occurred on the 1st and 5th July, meta- 



