392 REPORT — 1844. 



a small vessel of about four tons measurement on the ivave-form, for the pur- 

 pose of making experiments with it as a sailing vessel ; the other gentleman 

 to whom we were indebted for this experiment was Dr. Phipps of Cork, now 

 of London, who had formerly distinguished himself as a naval constructor, and 

 had invented a form of his own which had been attended with great success. 

 At the last meeting in Cork he had become acquainted with the Avave-form, 

 and it was under his superintendence that an experimental vessel had been 

 built on the Thames during last summer. The vessel had been tried on the 

 Thames by Dr. Phipps, and subsequently in the bay of Dublin, and the re- 

 sults of the experiments were laid before the meeting in the letters which had 

 been received from Dr. Phipps and Dr. Corrigan. From these letters it ap- 

 peared that the performances of this small vessel had been surprising. In 

 speed she had already beaten every vessel with which she had been tried, and 

 these included pleasure-boats and yachts, some of them of high reputation for 

 speed and of four times her size. It was of course difficult to conduct expe- 

 riments of this kind with mathematical precision, but the reports stated that 

 the experimental vessel was not only fast before the wind, but weatherly, dry, 

 stiff' and easily worked. The experiments on this vessel were still in progress, 

 and unless she should in future be beaten by some vessel of her own size and of 

 a different form, it would appear from these reports that the wave-form might 

 be adopted with as great advantage in the construction of sailing-vessels as 

 it already had been in the construction of the fastest class of steam-vessels. 



Report of the Progress of the Investigation of the Exotic Anoplura. 



By Henry Denny, A.L.S. 

 Upon receiving a notification from Sir William Jardine and Dr. Lankester, 

 that the Natural History Section of the British Association had voted the 

 sum of £'■25 towards an investigation and illustration of the exotic species of 

 Anoplura, which they M'ere desirous should be commenced, and that I was 

 requested to undertake the same upon a similar plan to my Monograph on 

 the British Anoplura, I immediately proceeded to take such measures as ap- 

 peared best calculated to enable me to carry out the object of the Section 

 with the greatest benefit to science. With this view, in addition to searching 

 personally for specimens from all the skins of quadrupeds and birds within my 

 reach, I applied, by letter, to various individuals for assistance, several of whom 

 immediately afforded it, and from many others I have the promise of their hearty 

 cooperation as often as the distance at which they are located will allow. 



The necessity for depending in a great measure upon foreign aid was soon 

 apparent; first, from the paucity of specimens to be obtained in public or 

 private collections ; and secondly, to ensure the exact location of each species 

 as near as possible, — a point of great importance, but which cannot be in all 

 cases depended upon when the parasites are procured from quadrupeds or 

 birds in public collections. The zeal Avith which my applications were re- 

 sponded to in two instances deserves especial notice, — I allude to the collec- 

 tion oi Anoplura belonging to the National Museum at the Jardin du Roi 

 having been transmitted for my examination by Professor Milne-Edwards of 

 Paris, and also that belonging to M. P. Gervais of Paris, who was himself 

 engaged on the tliird volume of Baron Walckenaer's ' Apterous Insects,' con- 

 taining the Anoplura. 



From the specimens already received I have made drawings of ninety 

 species ; sixty-one of these are engraved on eight plates, leaving twenty-nine 

 still to transfer to copper, besides several specimens which I have yet to 

 examine, and the daily expectation of fresh arrivals from some of my corre- 

 spondents abroad. 



