267 



a detailed account of its anatomy. — A communication was read from Mr. 

 R. J. Lechmere Guppy, C.M.Z.S., containing an account of some Fora- 

 minifera from the Microzoic Deposits of Trinidad. — Mr. Arthur E. Ship- 

 ley read notes on some Nematode Parasites obtained from animals formerly 

 living in the Society's Gardens. — Messrs. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., and 

 P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.Z.S, , gave an account of the anatomy oi Pala- 

 medea cornuta as compared with that of its allies. — A communication was 

 read from Dr. A. G. Butler, F.Z.S. , giving an account of a collection of 

 Lepidopterous Insects made by Dr. J. W. Gregory during his recent expe- 

 dition to Mount Kenia. The specimens were referred to 215 species, of 

 which 10 were stated to be new to science. — P. L. S dater, Secretary. 



2. Linnean Society of New South Wales. 



April 25th, 1894. — 1) A- Contribution to a further Knowledge of the 

 Cystic Cestodes. By James P. Hill, F.L.S. The paper treats of: a) Piesto- 

 cysiis hoplocephali, n. sp., found encysted in a snake [H. superbus). The cyst 

 wall consists of an outer fibrous and an inner homogeneous layer, and clo- 

 sely invests the enclosed Cysticercus. The latter is chiefly remarkable in the 

 possession of a rudimentary frontal sucker , and possesses also a small irre- 

 gular bladder-cavity bounded by thick walls, b) P.lialis, n.sp., a somewhat 

 remarkable proliferating species from the lizard Lialis. Each cyst contains 

 from one to three cysticerci lying quite free in the cavity of the cyst. The 

 cyst wall is composed of an outer fibrous and an inner thin homogeneous 

 layer with nuclei on its inner face. The cavity of the cyst is occupied by a 

 branching cellular network, processes of which are in continuity with the 

 inner homogeneous lining of the cyst cavity. The author regards the inner 

 layer of the cyst wall in P. hoplocephali ^ and the inner lining of the cyst 

 together with the cellular network in P. lialis, as direct derivatives of the 

 six-hooked embryo, and as corresponding to the so-called cyst of Monocerci, 

 to what Villot terms the blastogen or blastogenic vesicle. The relationships 

 of the genus Piestocystis are considered, and the author is led to regard it as 

 intermediate between the Cysticerci properly so called and the Cysticercoids. 

 c) A new species of Monocerctis from the earthworm Didymogaster . The 

 Cysticercoid is surrounded by an outer cuticular layer, beneath which is a 

 layer of large cells whose cell-walls are continuous with the outer layer. The 

 author regards the outer cellular wall and the enclosed Cysticercoid as the 

 entire product of the six-hooked embryo, d) The development of the scolex 

 of Synbothrium , a Tetrarhynchid. The scolex, consisting of head and neck, 

 is shown to arise from the bottom of the invagination sac as a-knob-shaped 

 process which by subsequent elongation and internal differentiation gives 

 rise to the fully-formed scolex. — 2) Notes on Australian Coleoptera , with 

 Descriptions of new Species. PartXV. By the Rev. T. Blackburn, B.A., 

 Corr. Mem, One genus and twenty-nine species from various parts of 

 Australia and Tasmania are described as new. — 3) Ethnographical. — 

 4)OntheLife-History of Australian Coleoptera. Partii. By W.W. Froggatt. 

 An account of the life-histories of beetles bred during the season 1892 — 93, 

 with a notice of their food-plants. The following species are treated of: — 

 Scolecobi-otis Westwoodi, Hope ; Uracanthus Froggatti, Blackb. ; Symphyletes 

 Solandri, Fab.; Skeltodes tetrops, Newm.; Stephanops nasuta^ Newm.; Syllitus 

 grammicus , Newm.; Pcniacoamia scoparla, Newm.; Bethcliiim signiferum , 



