SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 119 



A paper was afterwards read bj Mr. Christy, " On the power of pene- 

 trating the Bodies of Animals possessed by the Seed of Stipa spartea." 



A communication followed, from Mr. Stewart 0. Ridley, " On some ^ 

 Structures liable to Variation in the Subfamily AstrangiacecB (Madre- 

 poraria)," in which he remarks that although the columella has been taken 

 in many groups of Madreporaria for distinguishing genera, yet a study of 

 a series of specimens of Astrangiacea [Pl^yllanHia papuensis) shows that ^^ 

 within a single colony we may have the papillar and the trabecular forms, ^ 

 both to all appearance well developed, owing to the union in some ©articles caI/ 

 of the trabecular by a continuous lamina. Similarly, in the allied species 

 P. dispersa, the costse, insisted upon in the description of the species of the 

 genus by MM. Milne-Edwards and Haime, may either be present or absent 

 in the same colony. Thus great care must be exercised in the employment 

 of columella and costse in the specific distinction of the AstrangiacecB.— 



J. MUKIE. 



Zoological Society of London. 



February 5, 1884.— Prof. W. H. Flowek, LL.D., F.R.S., President, 

 in the chair. 



Mr. F. Day exhibited and made remarks on a specimen of a Dog-fish, 

 of which the entire interior had been eaten out by Isopod Crustaceans of 

 the genus Conilera. 



Mr. G. F. Butt e.xhibited two specimens of a singular variety of the 

 Red Grouse, shot in Westmoreland. 



A communication was read from Mr. W. Leche, of the University of 

 Stockholm, in which he gave an account of a collection of Bats from 

 Australia. Two new species were described and named respectively 

 Nyctinomus Petersi and N. albidus. 



JMr. Sclater read some notes on the Lesser Koodoo, Strejmceros imberhis 

 of Blyth, with a view of confirming the distinctness of this Antelope from 

 its largei' relative Strepsiceros kuda. 



A communication was read from Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, containing 

 the description of a new species of Bush Shrike of the genus Laniarhis, 

 based on a specimen obtained in Ashantee by Mr. Godfrey Lagden, which 

 he proposed to call L. Lagdeni, after its discoverer. 



Prof. Flower made some remarks on the chief points of interest exhibited 

 by the Burmese Elephant now in the Society's Gardens. — P. L. Sclateb 

 Secretary. 



Entomological Society of London. 

 At the Aimual Meeting held January 16th, 1884, J. W. Dunning, Esq., 

 M.A., F.L.S., &c.. President, in the chair, an abstract of the Treasurer's 



