Zoological Society. 423 



vince of Victoria, would be most likely to afford the capital facts 

 rioted under the " fourth " head, viz. the impregnated ovum in 

 utero, showing some stage of embryonal development in the spiny 

 terrestrial Monotreme. As to the hairy and aquatic Ornithorhyn- 

 chus, the impregnated females in which ova were found in the uterus, 

 of small size, and prior to the formation of the embryo, were caught 

 on the 6th and 7th of October. Young Ornithorhynchi, measuring 

 in length in a straight line 1-^ inch, were found in the nest on the 

 8th of December. The period of impregnation, therefore, in this 

 species, in the locality of the Murrumbidgee River, is probably 

 the latter end of September or beginning of October. Females cap- 

 tured in the latter half of October and in the month of November, 

 would be most likely to have ova in utero, exhibiting stages of em- 

 bryonal development. 



Professor Owen earnestly requests anyone who may obtain females 

 of the Platypus or Duck-mole (Ornithorhynchus) in October and 

 November, or females of the Porcupine-Anteater {Echidna) in July 

 and the first week of August, to preserve the specimens in colour- 

 less spirits, the- belly being slit open to allow access of the pre- 

 serving liquor to the interior, — or, to preserve the hinder half of 

 the specimen, the trunk being divided behind the fore limbs — or, 

 at least, the female organs of generation, with the bladder and 

 rectum, preserved in strong colourless spirits. These specimens may 

 be directed to Professor Owen, care of Dr. Mueller, F.R.S., Botanic 

 Garden, Melbourne ; or to the care of Dr. George Bennett, F.L.S., 

 Sydney ; or they may be transmitted directly, addressed " To the 

 Principal Librarian, British Museum, London," to whom the Bill 

 of Lading should be directed, and the freight will be paid in London. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Nov. 8, 1864.— Prof. Huxley, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



Notes on the Zoology of Spitsbergen. By Alfred 

 Newton, M.A., F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



In the month of May last, Mr. Edward Birkbeck offered me a 

 berth in his yacht, the ' Sultana,' R. T. Y. C, on a voyage to Spits- 

 bergen. As this was a country I had long been desirous to visit, I 

 was very glad of the opportunity of seeing it, which had so unex- 

 pectedly presented itself. On the 31st of May I found myself on 

 board the vessel at Lowestoft, and the following morning we sailed 

 northward. After a passage protracted by some tedious calms, we 

 cast anchor in the Bay of Hammerfest on the evening of the 26th 

 June. Here it was necessary to stay for some days, while a Nor- 

 wegian "jceyt " was being equipped to accompany us, and to take 

 us, if necessary, into the ice, where the yacht, from her extreme 

 length, would become embarrassed, and from her slight build dan- 

 gerous. Late in the evening of the 2nd July the necessary prepa- 

 rations were completed, and the ' Semmoline,' a sloop of some thirty 

 or forty tons, got under way. The next morning the ' Sultana ' fol- 



