PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 227 
and diagrams, illustrative of the anterior, external, and posterior 
portions, were exhibited.) The sacculus consists of one large sac, 
and the superior otolite occupies this position, although in two 
specimens of the wolf fish he had found that it oceupied different 
positions, and from this circumstance he judged that it might 
have the power of moving about from side to side. Amongst the 
Cyprinide (or carp family) the otolites occupy a different 
position ; here they are all placed in contact inferiorly, forming 
a chain of bones. From the lower sac two tubes pass through 
the base of the skull, and open through the anterior portion of 
the saccula. These saccula are the only true representatives of 
the ossicula auditus in the mammalia, according to the opinion of 
most writers upon the subject, but his own belief was that no 
fish have any true representatives of it, but that this is only an 
excessive development of the otochrones. The otolites them- 
selves are found to consist of carbonate and sulphate of lime, 
with a very small quantity of animal matter, but whether to call 
it a kind of condensed sarcode, or to consider it the same com- 
position as the Foraminifera, or as that of the oyster-shell, has 
not been satisfactorily determined. By comparison and examina- 
tion of these objects he had in many instances been able to 
identify species, and in many other instances he could identify 
genera, and he thought this was more than could be said of the 
fins or any other parts of a fish. He might mention that out of 
about 4000 specimens which he had examined only one instance 
had been found in which the species could not be identified, and 
this one was a common form which had, from some cause, become 
abnormal in shape and cartilaginous in structure. Specimens are 
occasionally found in which they are wanting on one side of the 
fish. He had not examined the true structure of the granules, 
but in their original forms they present the appearance or 
rhombic crystals. In the tertiary formations we meet with a 
very large quantity of specimens in a fossil state, and in the 
Crag formation all the examples found are identified with species 
now found on the shores of Great Britain in the present day ; 
they all belong to the cod family. Those discovered in the for- 
mations of the Isle of Wight are found to be identical with 
species now found in the Carribean Sea, showing that when the 
strata were deposited there must have been a tropical fauna 
existing here. (A large and valuable collection of specimens of 
the auditory organs of various families of fish was exhibited.) 
Hight members were elected. 
May 24th, 1867. 
Ervest Hart, Esq., President, in the Chair. 
Mr. M. C. Cooke read a short paper on “ Nachet’s Principle of 
Binocular Construction,” which he illustrated with diagrams. 
The President read a paper on “The Structure of the Ciliary 
Muscle and its Influence in Accommodation of the Eye,” in the 
