247 



rasch fortschreitende Vergrößerung des Bildes wahrnehmen. Man 

 könnte die Versuche Plateau's mit Hymenopteren ^ auch sehr gut 

 in dieser Weise deuten. 



III. Mittheiliingen aus Museen, Instituten etc. 



1. Zoological Society of London. 



2"*^ April, 1S89. — The Secretary read a report on the additions that 

 had been made to the Society's Menagerie during the month of March 1889, 

 and called attention to a specimen of the Manatee [Manatus anstralis] , pur- 

 chased March 2nd, being the second example of this Sirenian obtained alive 

 by the Society; to an oriental Phalanger [Phalanger orienialis, var. breviceps), 

 presented by Mr. C. M. Woodford, of Sydney, and to a specimen of Owen's 

 Aptéryx [Aptéryx Oweni) , presented by Capt. C. A. Findlay. — Mr. Smith- 

 Woodward exhibited and made remarks on a maxilla of the early Meso- 

 zoic Ganoid Saurichthys from the Rhaetic formation of Aust ClifiF, near 

 Bristol. — A communication was read from Mr. W. K. Parker, F.Z.S., 

 on the osteology of Steatorivs caripensis. The conclusion arrived at as regards 

 the affinities of this isolated form of Birds was that Steatornis is a waif of an 

 ancient avifauna, of which all the near allies are extinct, and that Podargus 

 of Australia is its nearest surviving relative. — Mr. Oldfield Thomas read 

 some preliminary notes on the characters and synonymy of the different 

 species of Otter. The author gave a revised synonymy of the four species of 

 Lutra recognized as belonging to the I'alaearctic and Indian Regions, and of 

 the two found in the Aethiopian Region. The American Otters, for want of 

 a larger series of specimens, could not at present be satisfactorily worked 

 out. — Mr. E. T. Newton read a paper, entitled ,,A Contribution to the 

 History of Eocene Siluroid Fishes". Mr. Newton observed that spines of 

 Siluroid Fishes from the Bracklesham Beds were described by Dixon in his 

 jFossils of Sussex' (1850), and referred to the genns Stlurus. Mr. A. Smith- 

 Woodward had recently shown good reason for referring these specimens, 

 and certain cephalic plates from the same horizon, to the tropical genus 

 Arius. The greater part of a skull, from the Eocene Beds of Barton, in the 

 Museum of the Geological Survey, confirmed the latter generic reference. Its 

 close resemblance to a skull of Ariiis gagorides in the British Museum left no 

 room for questioning their generic relationship, while at the same time the 

 fossil differed from any known species of Arius. The fortunate discovery of 

 one of the otoliths within the fossil skull, and its resemblance in important 

 points to that of A. gagorides , still further confirmed this determination. 

 Some other otoliths from Barton, and one from Madagascar, were also re- 

 ferred to the genus Arius. — Mr. A. Smith-Woodward read a note on 

 BucklandÌKm diluvii, a fossil from the London Clay of Sheppey, noticed by 

 König, and hitherto not satisfactorily determined. It was shown that this 

 fossil was a portion of the skull of a Siluroid Fish allied to the existing genus 

 Auchenoglanis . — A communication was read from Mr. H. W. Bates, 

 F.R.S., containing descriptions of new species of the Coleopterous family 

 Carabidae, collected by Mr. J. H. Leech in Kashmir and Baltistan. — A 



8 1. c. Separat, p. 39 ff. 



