Zoology and Botany. 403 



la (insipida of Brown), which has been classed with the mag- 

 nolia, is decidedly not a dicotyledon, it having the structure 

 of the coniferae; and although the texture is more minute, 

 and less defined than that of any of the larger species of Ar- 

 aucaria, yet it is evidently allied to the Araucarian division. 

 Since the meeting of the Association at Dublin, Mr Nicol has 

 received from Mr Allan Cunningham a bit of the wood (proba- 

 bly a branch) of the Tasmannia aromatica, and he finds, that 

 although there is a peculiarity in its structure, yet there is not 

 a doubt of its resemblance to the dipetala. The peculiarity al- 

 luded to, consists of curvilineal rays proceeding from the pith to 

 the surface. These are composed of one or two rows of quad- 

 rangular apertures, three or four times larger than those consti- 

 tuting the intermediate spaces. 



6. Dr West made a communication on a specimen of Bog Yew, 

 in which the interior portion of the heart v/ood is completely de- 

 tached from the exterior. 



7. Dr Jacob read a paper on the infra-orbital cavities or lar- 

 miers of the French authors, existing in the Deers and Antelopes. 

 This paper is the result of inquiries made by him on the recom- 

 mendation of the Zoological Committee in 1 8?>3. These sinuses 

 are follicles or sacs capable of admitting the end of the finger, 

 existing below the inner canthus of each eye. Dr Jacob shews 

 that they are not receptacles for the tears, as the term larmier 

 implies, — the gutter which exists in some from the eye to the 

 cavity, being in many species inadequate for the passage of the 

 tears, and the inspissated residuum found in the sac, not being 

 such as should remain after the evaporation of that liquid. 

 He explains the statements of the Rev. Gilbert White and Ma- 

 jor Hamilton Smith, that these sacs communicate with the nos- 

 trils through the puncta lachrymalia, which these observers sup- 

 pose to come through sacs or sinuses, \\ hich are altogether im- 

 pervious. In fact, it appears that these follicles are destined for 

 the same purpose for which similar secretions are provided in 

 different parts of other animals, as on the side of the head in 

 elephants, the back of the piccary, the face of certain bats, the 

 belly of the musk, and the numerous pra-putial and anal glands 

 of otliers. This is particularly exeniplified by the existence of 

 a peculiar black secretion, w hicb exudes in large quantity from 



