665 



were described ; for the latter a new subgenus was suggested , and the genus 

 itself was divided into three subgeneric groups. — A second paper from Prof. 

 Bell contained an account of a Crinoid from the Straits of Magellan, obtai- 

 ned by Dr. Coppinger during the voyage of H.M.S. , Alert', which was re- 

 ferred to a new variety of Antedon Eschrichti of the Arctic Seas. — Mr. 

 W.H.N e ale read some notes on the natural history of Franz-Josef Land, 

 as observed in 1881 — 1882 during the stay of the ,Eira' expedition in that 

 land. — Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys read the fifth part of his list of the Mollusca 

 procured during the expeditions of H.M.S. »Lightning' and , Porcupine'. 

 This part, which embraced the species from the Solenoconchia to the Caly- 

 ptraeidae, comprised 69 species, of which 22 were now for the first time de- 

 scribed or figured. The geographical, hydrographical, and geological range 

 of all these species was given, as in his former papers ; and the author espe- 

 cially noticed the points of agreement between the deep-water Mollusca from 

 the American and European expeditions. — P. L. Sclater, Secretary. 



2. Linnean Society of London. 



16th November. — Mr.F.P. Balkwill exhibited a series of British 

 Foraminifera under the microscope and said a few words on the special mode 

 of mounting the same. — A note was read on the type specimen of Carpo- 

 phaga Finschn by E.P.Ramsay. The total length of the bird when alive 

 is 141/2 inches, it had been obtained from Irish Cove in the Island of New 

 Ireland. — On Cerebral Homologies in Vertebrates and Invertebrates was a 

 Contribution from Prof. Owen. Referring to the sense centres in Verte- 

 brates he remarks they are not in contact in all, long communication cords 

 existing in some e.g. certain fishes. He then illustrates homologies in In- 

 sects by the Locust ; observing that as the oral nerve centres in Invertebrates 

 are so far removed from the narial nerve centres, so the ear organs and their 

 centres may be correspondingly remote from the oral ones. The so-called 

 brain of the Locust answers only to a part of the brain of a fish and is not a 

 supraoesophageal but a subhaemoesophageal ganglion. The next neural 

 mass in the Locust's brain answers to the epencephalon of the fish ; it is not 

 a sub-, but a supra- or neur-oesophageal ganglion. The Cephalopodic brain 

 retains the Invertebrate condition of giving passage to the gullet along the 

 part answering to the third ventricle of the higher forms. Still it is plain 

 that the nervous mass on one side of the gullet answers to the superoesopha- 

 geal ganglion and that on the opposite side to the suboesophageal ganglion 

 of Invertebrates. He refers to other forms and summarizes as follows : — that 

 the homologies of the primary divisions of the brain in MoUusks are the 

 parts known in Articulates as the supra- and suboesophageal ganglions with 

 their commissural or annectant cords or crura ; that the topical relations of 

 these parts to the gullet are the same in both great divisions of Invertebrates ; 

 and that the homologies of the afore said parts with the primary divisions of 

 the Vertebrate brain are afi'ected solely by the altered relation thereto of the 

 gullet and mouth. — Thereafter was read the 16th communication on the 

 Mollusca of the Challenger Expedition by the Rev. R, Boog Watson. This 

 treats of the family Fissurellidae, viz. genus Zeidora, 1 species, and Puncfu- 

 relia, 1 species, and of the family Cocctdinidae, genus Cocculina, one species. 

 All are forms new to Science. — J. Murie. 



