163 



November 12, 1844. 

 Professor Owen, Vice-Presideut, in the Chair. 



Extract of a letter from the President, the Right Hon, the Earl of 

 Derby, to the Secretary : — 



" Knovvsley, Oct. 17. — A circumstance has just occurred here 

 Tvhich I cannot help flattering myself will tend to throw light upon 

 a matter in the history of the Macropodida ■which has been often 

 disputed. I allude to the manner in which the young animal after 

 birth attains its lodgement in the mother's pouch. 



" My superintendent tells me that one of our female Bettongias 

 was seen to part with a young one. She was observed to place her- 

 self erect in one of the angles of the place ^vhere she was confined, 

 backing as it were into the corner, and in this situation produced the 

 young one, which after its birth she took up in her fore-paws and 

 deposited in the pouch. This latter process the superintendent ■wit- 

 nessed himself. 



" She had received the malė so lately as the 19th of September, 

 and the parturition took place on the 16th of October. We will 

 take particular notice ■n'hen the young quits the pouch. 



" Of course this is not a decisive proof that all of the tribe adopt 

 the šame process, yet I think we may fairly conclude from analogy 

 that they do." 



" Oct. 19. — It may be observed that the period of utero-gestation 

 is a very short one, even under a month. Something peculiar in the 

 manner of the animal placing herself in the corner \vas observed by 

 the person -vvho fed her, he stopped and vvatched her, and thus wit- 

 nessed the birth, immediately after ■vvhich she tumed round to the 

 young one, and getting it up in her fore-paws, applied them to the 

 mouth of the pouch, opened it with them, and as soon as the httle 

 one was deposited she put her head in after it ; when her nose re- 

 appeared it was rather stained with blood. In five minutes she was 

 jumping about the place as if nothing had happened." 



A specimen of Chameeleon from the Cape of Good Hope yrąs ex- 

 hibited by Mr. Fraser. 



Mr. Weaver, of Birmingham, exhibited and presented to the So- 

 ciety specimens of the following insects : — Hipparchia Melampus*, 

 Leucaria littoralis, Sperantia sylvaria, Cleodora ? 



* Taken on the mountains of Perthshire, about 3000 feet above the levei 

 of the sea. 



No. CXLI. PROCEEniNGS OF THE ZoOL. SoC. 



