PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 187 
and Arrows of the Samoan Islanders.” The attention of the author had 
been called to this subject by the death of the late Commander Good- 
enough, R.N., said to have been caused by one of these weapons. His chief 
information has been derived from the son of a native chief, These 
arrows, it is said, are pointed with human bones, and in some instances 
with the spines of a large species of Echinus. The gummy product of 
several trees is used, and, besides being dipped in this, there is added 
a substance from wasp’s nests and putrid liquid of the sea-cucumber 
(Holothuria). A kind of kiln is then prepared where the arrows are 
smoked, afterwards inserted into the dried flower of a species of Zacca, 
to prevent humidity, and tied up in bundles ready for use. Mr. Powell 
then noted the effects of the poison on the human system and the reputed 
means of cure. 
Dr. A. Giinther gave a “Notice of two large Extinct Lizards formerly 
inhabiting the Mascarene Islands.” The fragmentary materials yielding 
evidence of these creatures had partly been obtained by Mr. Edward 
Newton, already well known for his acquaintance with the extinct fauna 
of the Mascarenes, and partly by Mr. H. H. Slater, one of the naturalists 
accompanying the Transit of Venus Expedition. The bones of one lizard 
must have been that of an animal above a foot long, not including the tail. 
As far as can be made out its nearest congeners were the Zonuride and 
Scineid@, but nevertheless so far characteristically different as to be con- 
sidered worthy of generic distinction, the name Didosaurus mauritianus 
being given it. The remains of another form from Rodriguez point to 
its being closely allied to the Geckos, although larger than G. verus : the 
name G. Newtonii has been assigned to it. 
The second part of “ Contributions to the Ornithology of New Guinea,” 
by Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, was, in his absence, read by Mr. Howard 
Saunders. This paper contained an account of a collection of birds formed 
by Dr. James, a young and enthusiastic naturalist who was unfortunately 
murdered by the natives during an expedition to one of the islands in 
Hall’s Sound, whither he had gone to collect Birds of Paradise. He 
collected in Yule Island and on the opposite coast of South-Eastern New 
Guinea. The collection contains fifty-three species, of which three appear 
to be new to science. The great bulk of the birds obtained were well- 
known Australian or Aru Island forms; and thus it becomes evident that 
the south-eastern corner of New Guinea cannot compare with the northern 
portion of the island as regards the species exclusively indigenous to the 
country. ‘The new species are Melidora collaris, Thomygama Jamesii, and 
a long-tailed Kingfisher (Tanysiptera microrhyncha). The most interesting 
addition, however, is that of Machaeramphus alcinus, a night-flying black 
Kite, at present only known from the peninsula of Malacca and Southern 
Tenasserim, to which localities it was hitherto believed to be peculiar. As 
