PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 27 
the last-named of whom considers the “Lord Fish” to be a Common Cod 
unnaturally shortened from spinal disease, he gives his reasons for differing 
from this view, and for regarding it as a distinct species. A full description, 
figure, and measurements are given of the specimen examined by him. 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
Linnean Society oF Lonpon. 
November 20, 1879.—Prof. ALtmAn, F.R.S., President, in the chair. 
Messrs. Winslow Jones, of Exeter, and William Wickham, of Binsted, 
Wyck, Alton, Hants, were elected Fellows of the Society. 
The first zoological paper read was “On the Extinct Land Tortoises 
of Mauritius and Rodriguez,” by Mr. Alfred Haddon, and communicated 
by Prof. Alfred Newton. The material whereon this is based is a fresh 
collection of remains of gigantic tortoises now deposited in the Cambridge 
University Museum. The author states that an examination of these 
bones corroborates the two Mauritian species, Testudo triserrata and 
T’. inepta, described by Dr. Giinther, but it adds no fresh example to that 
apparently unsatisfactory species 7’. leptocnemis. Moreover, though pos- 
sessing a large series of remains from the island of Rodriguez, Mr. Haddon 
like Dr. Giinther cannot distinguish more than one species, 7’. Vosmeri. 
As examples of the inherent tendency to variation in these animals, attention 
is drawn to the ankylosis of the coracoid with the rest of the shoulder-girdle 
in one specimen of 7’. inepta, a circumstance which is unique; also to the 
variations in the coracoid of 7. triserrata, so as to form markings, &c. The 
free coracoid of 7’. inepta is also for the first time recorded. From the 
large number of specimens examined, it is now found that the coracoid of 
T. Vosmeri is very irregular as to the time of its ankylosis with the rest 
of the shoulder-girdle, and that it is not the “apparently individual 
aberration,” as supposed by Dr. Giinther. To facilitate comparisons 
measurements are given of all the most interesting bones in a manner 
similar to that adopted by Dr. Giinther in his monograph, Finally, the 
attention of herpetologists is drawn to this Cambridge series as repre- 
senting the most complete set of specimens extant of this interesting group 
of extinct reptiles. They were collected by Mr. Edward Newton (now Lieut.- 
Governor of Jamaica) when resident in the Mauritius. 
The abstract of a paper “On Crustacea from the Greenland Seas,” by 
Mr. Edward J. Miers, was read by the Secretary. Material chiefly collected 
by Mr. Edward Whymper in his northern cruise forms the basis of this 
communication; two species, however, obtained by the late Arctic Expedition 
