4460 THE ZooLocist—May, 1875. 
character of the species until I observed that Mr. Gould refers to it in the 
description of this bird.—Kdward Hearle Rodd; Penzance, March 23. 
Large Salmon.—aA very fine male fish, taken from the river Maas, in 
Holland, is this day exposed for sale at Mr. R. 8. Simpson’s shop, in Bull 
Street, Birmingham. ‘The salmon is in magnificent condition for the table, 
and measures fifty-four inches from the tip of the nose to the end of the 
tail; its greatest girth being twenty-five inches and a half, and its weight 
forty-nine pounds.—W. R. Hughes; Birmingham, April 17, 1875. 
Boar-fish at Torcross.—A specimen of the boar-fish, six inches and a 
quarter long, was taken on Wednesday the 7th inst. in a net with plaice, at 
Torcross.—Richard P. Nicholls ; Kingsbridge, April 9, 1875. 
Tenacity of Life in Sharks.—Apropos to Captain Hadfield’s remarks 
hereupon (S. 8. 4416) I may mention that some years ago, in the Southern 
Indian Ocean, I cut out the heart of a captured blue shark for the purpose of 
observing how long its muscular action would continue, and found that it did 
not cease a perfectly regular expansion and contraction for four hours, after 
which the movement slowly came to an end. I have frequently noticed the 
jaws of this species snap violently, when anything touched the head, some 
time after the latter had been severed from the body.—E£. B. Kemp-Welch. 
Procecdings of Scientific Societies, 
ZootocicaL Society or Lonpon. 
April 6, 1875.—Dr. E. Hamiron, Vice-President, in the chair. 
A letter was read from Dr. G. Hartlaub, stating that the finch described 
by him and Dr. Finsch as new, in the Society’s ‘ Proceedings’ for 1870 
(p. 817), and named Lobiospiza notabilis, was probably only the young bird 
of Amblyura cyanovirens. 
Dr. A. Giinther exhibited the skin of a new species of mole from British 
Caffraria, which he proposed to call Chrysochloris Trevelyani. 
The Secretary exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Gould, the original specimen 
of the parrot (Aprosmictus insignissimus) spoken of by Mr. Gould in his 
communication to the Society on the 3rd of November, 1874; also specimens 
of two other new species of birds from Northern Queensland—a new honey- 
eater (proposed to be called Ptilotis flavostriata) and a new parrot (proposed 
to be called Cyclopsitta Maccoyi). 
Mr. Osbert Salvin read a memoir on the Avifauna of the Galapagos 
Archipelago. After a summary of what was known of the history and 
physical peculiarities of these islands, Mr. Salvin proceeded to give a com- 
plete account of the birds as at present known to us from the visits of 
