344 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
June 19, 1879.—Prof. Arian, F.R.S., President, in the chair. 
Mr. Charles Holmes, of Bradford, was elected a Fellow of the Society. 
The President called attention to two volumes folio ‘On the British 
Fresh-water Fishes,’ by the Rev. W. Houghton. These, recently issued, 
illustrate in colours all the known species, and the work forms a handsome 
addition to the literature of the British fauna. 
The Secretary, in the absence of the author, then read a paper “ Ona 
remarkable branched Syilis from the ‘ Challenger’ Expedition,” by Dr. W. C. 
M‘Intosh. This polychete worm, S. ramosa, was found in the basal canals 
of a hexactinellid sponge dredged near Zebu, Philippines. Thread-like in 
thickness, the branches are intricately arranged among the meshes of the 
sponge, and it appears that but one head must serve for many branches. 
Buds and secondary buds are very numerous on the latter, and in a free 
female pedal bristle-tufts were observed. A fragment of a different form is 
suggested as possibly the male of the foregoing rare example of a truly 
branched annelid. They both differ in most particulars from anything 
heretofore recorded in science. 
On the Thorax of the Blow-fly,” was the title of a paper by Mr. A. 
Hammond. Most authorities at present recognise the great preponderance 
of the mesothorax over the other two segments (prothorax and metathorax), 
but do not fix the limit of each. The author refers to the integumentary 
parts entering into the thorax of insects, as enumerated by Audouin, and 
also especially to the views held by Westwood, Burmeister, Lowne, and 
others. Afterwards he gives a full description of his own dissections and 
preparations, and reasons for dissenting from the majority of workers, 
though with evident inclination to Audouin’s opinions. He concludes that, 
from the analogy presented by other insects, from the evidence derivable 
from the phenomena of developmental change, and from a study and 
consideration of the nervous muscular systems, all combine to show that 
the thorax of Diptera, as illustrated in the blow-fly, is almost exclusively 
mesothoracic; this conviction, be it observed, being quite at variance with 
that promulgated by Lowne in his admirable researches on the blow-fly. 
Mr. G. Busk read a communication “ On Recent Species of Heteropora,” 
this being founded chiefly on material got by the ‘ Challenger’ Expedition. 
Hitherto our knowledge of these Polyzoa has been derived from fossil forms, 
but quite lately Mr. Waters has drawn attention to a recent example in 
the British Museum Collection, said to be from Japan. Mr. Busk now 
considerably adds to our information on the living types, and enters into an 
account of the several structural peculiarities observed by him. 
Then followed a paper by Pastor H. D. J. Wallengren, of Sweden, “ On 
the Species of Caddis-flies (Phryganee) described by Linneus in his 
‘Fauna Suecica,’ with Notes thereon,” communicated by Mr. R. M‘Lachlan. 
A paper “ On the Bell-bird,” by Dr. J. Murie, was taken as read. 
