336 Zoological Society. 



time exprt's.s the expositor's meaning in the fewest and clearest terms. 

 The entomologist had long found the advantage of such signs as 

 (J and ? , in reference to the sexes of Insects and the like ; and the 

 anatomist would find it to his advantage to avail himself of this 

 powerfiU instrument of thought, instruction and discovery, from 

 which the chemist, the astronomer, and the geometrician have ob- 

 tained such important results. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



February 10, 1852.— WilUam Yarrell, Esq., in the Chair. 



The Chairman exhibited a specimen of the Echiodon Driimmondii 

 of Mr. Thompson of Belfast, a very rare species of fish, of which 

 only one example has been previously known. Dr. Drummond ob- 

 tained the first specimen on the beach at Carnclough, near Glenarm 

 in the county of Antrim, in June 1836, cast ashore probably by the 

 tide of the preceding night, after a strong easterly wind. The spe- 

 cies was considered new to ichthyology, and was first described and 

 figured in the Transactions of this Society by Mr. Thompson, vol. ii. 

 p. 207. pi. 38. Nothing that has transpired since the publication 

 of Mr. Thompson's paper hai indaged a belief that this species had 

 been previously known. 



The specimen now exhibited was most liberally sent to Mr. Yarrell 

 by Mrs. Blackburn of Valencia, in the county of Kerry, who was per- 

 fectly aware of the characters, the rarity, and the value of the fish. 

 It was found by her daughter Helen on the shore of the harbour of 

 Valencia, after a violent storm from the west, which occurred there 

 on the 23rd of January last. 



This example is smaller than the one noticed by Mr. Thompson, 

 measuring only 8 inches in length, but quite perfect. Mr. Thomp- 

 son's example measured 12 inches (Brit. Fishes, vol. ii. p. 417). 



The following papers were then read : — 



1. On Cystosoma Saundersii, of Curtis and Westw^ood. 

 By a. W. Scott, M.A. 



Head small ; sides of the thorax running in a straight line from 

 the head to an acute angle behind ; abdomen of the male deeply con- 

 stricted immediately behind first segment ; second joint of the an- 

 tennse distinct from the third, and not forming with it the tapering 

 setse which terminates them ; upper wings destitute of a nervure 

 running parallel to their iniier margin. 



The male measures, in expanse of wings, nearly A\ inches ; the 

 female 3f inches. 



The anteunse in both sexes are very short, 7-jointed, the two b.isal 

 joints strong and thick, the remainder much finer and gradually ter- 

 minating in a point. 



The legs, anterior pair, with two minute spurs at the apex of tibia ; 



