4)4:6 Royal Society. 



from them, perforating the skin, at two circular portions, which pre- 

 sented no elevation corresponding to nipples. The Fallopian tubes 

 terminate by very small orifices in the cloaca : posterior to their termi- 

 nations the author observed two slightly projecting processes, con- 

 taining each the orifice of a duct which proceeds to a length of at 

 least two inches, but the continuation of which could not be traced in 

 the specimen examined, in consequence of the injuries it had received. 

 In the male, three pointed processes were noticed at each extremity of 

 the corpora cavernosa of the penis, the cavities of which do not com- 

 municate with one another, and are separated before their termina- 

 tion. The spur of the male is furnished with a sac, of the size of a 

 pea, containing a poisonous fluid, which by means of a canal is con- 

 ducted into a wound inflicted by the spur. 



December 22. — A paper was read, entitled " Some Account of a 

 New Volcano in the Mediterranean." By John Davy, M.D. F.R.S., 

 Assistant Inspector of Army Hospitals. 



The first intelligence of the breaking out of the volcano, which is 

 the subject of the present paper, was brought to Malta, on the 16th 

 of July last, by a merchant vessel. It was confirmed soon after' by 

 Captain Swinburne, of H. M.S. Rapid, who had succeeded in approach- 

 ing very near the island. The crater of the volcano, which was in 

 great activity, was then only a few feet above the level of the sea. 

 Several shocks of an earthquake had been felt near the same spot 

 about a month before the eruption. The volcano continued active 

 till the 16th of August, and the island it was forming gradually en- 

 larged in all its dimensions ; but since that period there has been no 

 fresh eruption. In the end of August, a survey of the island was 

 carefully made by Captain Wodehouse, R.N. of H.M. brig Ferret ; 

 and a plan drawn by him is annexed to the present paper. The cir- 

 cumference of the island is about 3240 feet, and its greatest height 107 

 feet ; the circumference of its crater is about 780 feet. The surface 

 of the island is composed entirely of ashes and cinders, witiiout any 

 lava. The crater contained turbid salt water, having a temperature of 

 200° Fahr. and emitting a constant supply of gas. The water in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of the island was very shallow, not ex- 

 ceeding three or four feet, and the crater was rapidly filling up by the 

 falling in of its margin. 



The author could not learn that anything unusual had been noticed 

 as having occurred in any of the neighbouring volcanic regions, either 

 at the time of the eruption or immediately antecedent to it. He de- 

 scribes the phsenomena, which fell under his own observation, on a 

 visit which he made to the island on the 5th of August. During the 

 most violent eruptions, a large quantity of dense white vapour, re- 

 sembling snow or bleached wool, rose to a great height in the atmo- 

 sphere, and assumed various extraordinary forms ; this was followed by 

 columns of perfectly black matter, rising to the height of three or four 

 thousand feet, and spreading out very widely, even to windward. The 

 subterranean sounds attending the eruptions were not very loud, and 

 were much exceeded by that of the electrical explosions accompanying 

 the lightning, which was seen to dart in various directions in the at- 

 mosphere 



