460 



render the investigation of its geological characters difficult , it has been 

 palaeontologically the most barren area in the colony. — 3) On the Deve- 

 lopment and Structure of the Pineal Eye in Lacertilia. By \V. J. Mackay, 

 B.Sc. In this paper the development of the pineal eye in Ainphiboiurus muri- 

 catiis and Lygosoma tacniolatiim is traced, the epiphysis cerebri being shown 

 to arise as an evagination of the thalaraencephalon, which then becomes 

 thrown into two vesicles, the anterior of which is separated ofl' to form the 

 pineal eye. In the adult there is no connection between the eye and the end 

 of the epiphysis. The retina of the eye of Lygosoma is somewhat similar to 

 what Professor Spencer has described in l^aramis and Hatteria. — 4) Notes 

 on Australian Coleoptera, with descriptions of Xew Species. By the Rev. 

 T. Blackburn, B.A., Corr. Mem. Linn. Soc. N.S. W. A number of new 

 species, chiefly from the Northern Territory of South Australia, are here 

 described, accompanied by notes and critical remarks on species previously 

 known. The new species contain several Carabidae, a Cybister, a large num- 

 ber of the Palpicornes, including one new genus — Hydrobiomorpha , two 

 species of Cucujidae , a number of Lamellicorns of the genera Bolboceras, 

 J^Iaccfndius , Liparetrus , Lepidiota , a new genus P aimer stonia , and several 

 species of the Heteromerous genera Helaeus and Saragus. — Mr. Brazier 

 exhibited a specimen of PJiysa gibbosa, Gould, obtained more than a month 

 ago in Waterloo swamps, since when, though it had been merely left in a 

 corked tube with a little water, it had deposited a quantity of spawn. — 

 Mr. Ogilby exhibited for Mr. North the eggs of Aplanis fuscus, from Lord 

 Howe Island, as yet undescribed. — Mr. Ogilby communicated a note — 

 which will be given in extenso in the Proceedings — on the cause of death of 

 fi.shes in the National Park dam. Owing to the stagnation of the water through 

 prolonged drought an epidemic disease has broken out among the fishes which 

 are found in a dead or moribund condition, infested with the fungoid growths 

 of a species of Saprolegnia. — Dr. Cox pointed out that the epidemic men- 

 tioned by Mr. Ogilby was simply due to the unhealthy and unnatural con- 

 ditions under which the drought had compelled these particular fishes to live, 

 and that there was no ground whatever for any public alarm. Mr. White- 

 legge exhibited under the microscope preparations of mycelia of the fungus 

 referred to in Mr. Ogilby' s note. — Also a well-preserved specimen of Ncis 

 cordigera, Less., one of the Beröidae from Port Jackson, obtained in the 

 month of June. — Dr. Cox exhibited specimens of an ^»icy/f/s or river- 

 limpet from a lake in the interior of Tasmania. The species exhibited had 

 been described by Mr. Petterd, and is much larger than the one found in 

 this colony. — Also a Tertiary fossil from the Wild-horse Plains, which he 

 believed to be identical with Thylacodes decussatus, Gmel., a living Port Jack- 

 son species. — Mr. Fletcher exhibited seven specimens of Peripatus 

 Leuckartii, Sang., three of them still alive, found ten days ago under stones 

 on the edge of a country road a few miles out ofWollongong; and communi- 

 cated a note giving an account of the colours, appearance, and general 

 characters of the living animals ; pointing out the resemblance to P. Novae- 

 Zealandiae, Hutton, as far as external characters go ; and that the characters 

 of the leg-pads mentioned in the abstract of Sanger's paper are not of specific 

 importance, his specimen evidently having been in a more or less shrivelled 

 condition. 



Druck von Breitkopf & Hârtel in Leipzig. 



