48 



eighth vertebra, which ought to be the first dorsal, is provided with a pair of 

 quite rudimentary ribs, and is thus really a cervical vertebra. — 5) On the 

 Ossification of the Vertebrae in the Wombat and other Marsupials. By R. 

 Broom, M.D., B.Sc. An examination of the mode of ossification of the 

 vertebrae in a number of types of Marsupials has revealed some interesting 

 points. The odontoid process of the axis is ossified from a single median 

 centre instead of from a pair as in man and probably most of the higher 

 mammals. The 3rd-7th cervical vertebrae are ossified from three centres. The 

 dorsal vertebrae are developed similarly to those in the higher mammals; and 

 in the majority of Marsupials the same may be said of the lumbar vertebrae. 

 In the Wombat [Pkascolomys MitcheUi)^ however, a remarkably interesting ex- 

 ceptional condition is presented. The first three lumbar vertebrae are deve- 

 loped from three centres as in man, but the fourth difi"ers in having well- 

 marked autogonous transverse processes. In most Marsupials the upper 

 caudal vertebrae have well developed autogonous transverse processes, which 

 are undoubtedly serially homologous with the pleurapophysial centres of those 

 vertebrae which support the pelvic bones; and, finally, the conclusion is ine- 

 vitable that the autogenous transverse processes of the upper caudal vertebrae 

 in the Marsupials are really costal elements. — Mr. T. Steel exhibited the 

 distal half of a humerus of the extinct Marsupial, Diprotodon australis, Owen, 

 from Darling Downs, Q. — Mr. Froggatt exhibited specimens of cherries 

 from the Armidale district, showing the efi'ect of the depredations of the 

 Rutherglen Bug [Nysius venator]\ the pest, however, is amenable to treat- 

 ment by the cyanide-fumigation process. Also commercial samples of carrot 

 seed infested with the destructive small beetle, Sitodrepa [Anobmm) punicea, 

 Linn., the eggs of which were included with the seed when made up into 

 packets. — Mr. J. J. Walker exhibited a specimen of, and contributed a 

 short Note on, Nacerdes melanura^ Schm., (fam. Oedemeridae), a European 

 beetle not previously recorded from Australia. The individual exhibited was 

 taken at light on board H.M.S. Ringarooma at Garden Island, Port Jackson, 

 on November 18th. Quite recently Mr, G. C. Champion has recorded the 

 same species from Cape Town. — Mr. J. P. Hill exhibited a Teleostean 

 fish, an undetermined species of the viviparous genus Cristiceps, the ovary of 

 which was seen to be packed with developing young. He also exhibited a 

 series of drawings and photographs in illustration of his work during the 

 past year on the development of Marsupials, and including photographs of 

 the early stages in the development of Dasywus viverrinus ; and photographs 

 and drawings illustrating the evolution of the external form and the condi- 

 tion of the foetal membranes in Trichosunts vulpecula, Pkascolomys Mitchelli 

 and Phascolarctus cinereus. Also, on behalf of Prof. J. T. Wilson and himself, 

 he exhibited the egg-shells of laid eggs of Echidna and Platypus^ together 

 with photographs of Platypus embryos and foetal specimens from the burrow. 

 — Mr. G. A. Waterhouse exhibited three specimens of the butterfly, 

 Xenica hobartia, AVestw., caught at the National Park on November 12th. 

 Also specimens of X. fasmanica, Lyell, lately described from Tasmania. 



Druck von Breitiopf & Härtel in Leipzig. 



