42 



observed them during the voyage in tlie months of January, February, 

 May, June, July, August, September and December." 



It appears that tbe sperm )V7iale is not likę the Balcena mysticetus, 

 constantly found with Barnacles and other parasites adhering to its 

 skin, a circumstance accounted for by Mr. Bennett from the former 

 species inhabiting deep Avater, while the latter freąuents soundings, 

 and is also much more sluggish in its movements. One species of 

 Barnacle, the Otion Cuvieri, is sometimes found attached in a single 

 cluster to the lips or lo\ver ja\v of the Cachalot, and a few small 

 Onisci occasionaUy adhere to the skin ; in its blubber also numerous 

 cysts of a species of Cysticercus are met ^vith. 



Mr. Bennett, in the latter part of bis memoir, notices the obsti- 

 nacy and detennination which these Whales often display ■vvhen at- 

 tacked or \vounded, and also enuraerates some of the different spe- 

 cies of animals ■which are thought to indicate their approach, and he 

 concludes with a reference to their occurrence in the British seas, 

 and some observations upon their geographical distribution. 



Mr. Gould then caUed the attention of the meeting to a riew and 

 beautiful species of Ortyx, a native of California, from the coUection 

 of the late David Douglas, and characterized it under the name of 

 O. plumifera. 



Ortyx Plumifera. 



Ort. capite, nuchd, pectoreąue intensė cinereis; pilimis duabus gra- 

 cilibus et subpendentihus e vertice nigris ; gula intensė castaned 

 ad latera lined albd, infra oculos nota nigrd ; loro sordidė albo ; 

 corpore superiore olivaceo-fusco ; rectricibus caudcB fuscis nigro 

 irroratis ; alce primariis brunneis, pogoniis externis, pallidiori- 

 bus į abdo7ni7iis lateribus intensė castaneis ; snprd lined albd 

 marginatis ; infra fasciis nigris afque albis ornatis ; abdoinine 

 medio crissogue casta7ieis ; rostro nigro ; pedibus pallide-brun- 

 nescentibus. 

 Long. tot. 9į unc. ; rostri, į ; alce, 5į ; caudce, 5^ ; tarsi, 1|. 

 Hab. California. 



Fomi. vel masjunior a mare adulto differt, corpore minore, coloribus 

 obscurioribus, plumisque capitis brevioribus. 



He remarked that this genus ■vvas first brought before the Society 

 eight or nine years ago by Mr. Vigors, at which time only five spe- 

 cies were known, but since that period the number had been doubled ; 

 and from the remarkable development of the feathers forming the 

 crest in the species then exhibited Mr. Gould anticipates the dis- 

 covery of others, Avhich shall connect Ortyx plumifera 'vvith those 

 species in which this character is less prominently shown. In sup- 

 port of this opinion Mr. Gould directed attention to the genera 

 Larus, Trogon and Caprimulgus, ■vvhich possess certain characters 

 largely developed ; but the degree of development increases graduaUy 

 from the species in which it is least apparent to those in which it 

 attains its greatest extent. 



