4 THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



of Cuvier's " Regne Animal " ; Major C. Hamilton Smith, the 

 explorer and practical naturalist; and Mr. William Yarrell, 

 the well-known author of "British Fishes" and "British 

 Birds." Sir Stamford Raffles was not a member, though he 

 was eligible, having been elected a Fellow of the Linnean 

 Society on February 15, 1825. 



Some of the work was, of course, concerned with classifi- 

 cation, and some with anatomy ; but field and practical zoology 

 was largely represented. Thus, Burchell, to whom we owe the 

 distinction between the mountain zebra and the commoner 

 form named by Gray in his honour, contributed a paper on 

 some African barbets, which he considered as forming a 

 connecting link between the parrots and woodpeckers ; and he 

 based his conclusions on observations made during his African 

 travels. Yarrell raised the lancelet from its old position as 

 a mollusc to the dignity of a fish, from which it has been 

 deposed, though it now occupies a more interesting position as 

 a degenerate representative of the ancestor whence backboned 

 animals have developed. The same author here exhibited 

 and described his preparations of the organs of voice in many 

 birds, and those throwing light on the assumption of male 

 plumage by hen birds. Nor must his dissections and descrip- 

 tion of the jaws of the crossbill and the muscles actuating 

 them be forgotten. Buffon had called the crossed tips of the 

 bill a defect, an error of nature, which could not fail to be 

 very inconvenient to the bird. Yarrell explained fully the 

 working of the jaws and muscles " in riving asunder cones or 

 apples, while at the proper moment the scoop-like tongue is 

 instantaneously thrust out and withdrawn, conveying the 

 hitherto protected seed to the bird's mouth." 



To one of the meetings Bell brought a living example of the 

 grison, a small South American weasel-like creature, which he 

 described as being " playful and harmless as a cat." Stedman 

 had previously given it a bad character for its depredations 

 in poultry yards. Not improbably both accounts are correct. 

 There is no reason why a rapacious little beast should not 

 make a charming pet when it is kindly treated and liber- 

 ally fed. Another of his contributions confirmed Schneider's 

 observations as to toads swallowing their cast skins. 



