36 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



extinct. It may not be logical, but to my imagination it is far more 

 satisfactory to look at the young cuckoo ejecting its foster-brothers, ants 

 making slaves, the larvae of the IchneumonidcB feeding within the live 

 bodies of their prey, cats playing with mice, otters and cormorants with 

 living fish, not as instincts specially given by the Creator, but as very 

 small parts of one general law leading to the advancement of all organic 

 bodies — Multiply, Vary, let the strongest Live and the weakest Die.""i= 



An interesting discussion followed, in which Professors Huxley, Allman, 

 Mivart, Foster and Laukester, Messrs. Wallace and Seebohm, and others 

 took part. 



December 20, 1883. — Alfked W. Bennett, F.L.S., in the chair. 



Messrs. N. Cantley, W. Dobson, F. G. Smart, and Rev. R. Thorn were 

 elected Fellows of the Society. 



Mr. S. 0. Ridley exhibited and made remarks on a series of 177 

 vertical sections of Sponges collected in the neighbourhood of Point de 

 Galle, Ceylon, by Dr. W. C. Ondaatje, and transmitted to England by him 

 in letters. They are in most instances sufficient for the identification of 

 the genera and some species. 



Mr. F. Maule Campbell showed the web of a spider (Tegenaria Guyonii) 

 which had been spun in the centre of a paste-board cylinder, the peculiarity 

 being the manner in which the solid part of the web was medially swung ; 

 for in this species of spider it is more usually on the sides of objects. 



A communication was read " On the Auditory Ossicles of Rhytina 

 Stelleri," by Mr. Albau Doran. This was based on skeletons obtained by 

 the 'Vega' Expedition, and shown at the late International Fisheries 

 Exhibition by the Swedish Government. The author found that the 

 malleus in Rhytina is larger than in Manatus, and is therefore the largest 

 and bulkiest malleus to be found in any animal where such a bone exists, 

 that in the characters of its body it resembles Manatus rather than 

 Halicore, and that in the manubrium it differs from the other Sirenia, 

 and is far more generalised. The incus is of the Manatus type, and so 

 is the stapes, which is also larger and bulkier than that of any other 

 animal — J. Murie. 



Zoological Society of London. 



December 4, 1883.— Prof. W. H. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S., President, 

 in the chair. 



Mr. Philip Crowley exhibited and made remarks on an egg of a Bower- 



* The full text of this essay will appear shortly in the ' Journal of the 

 Linnean Society.' 



