198 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Prof. P. M. Duncan gave an abstract of a revision of the families and 

 genera of the Sclerodermic Zoantharia (excepting the Madreporia Eugosa). 

 He stated that no systematic work having been written on the Madre- 

 poraria since that of MM. Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime (1857 — 60), 

 and a great number of genera having been since described, a necessity had 

 arisen for a revision of the classification This necessity was the more 

 apparent in consequence of the morphological work of Dana, L. Agassiz, 

 Verrill, and H. N. Moseley. The old sections of the Zooantherian suborder 

 required modifications and additions. The sections Aporosa and Perforata 

 would remain, shorn of some genera, the old family Funijidm becoming a 

 section with three families, two of which are transitional between those just 

 mentioned. The section Tabulata disappears, some genera being placed 

 in the Aporosa, and others relegated to the Hydrozoa, according to Moseley. 

 The Tuhulosa cease to be Madreporian. Hence the sections treated are 

 Madreporariu aporosa, M./ungida, and M. i^erforata. The nature of the 

 hard and soft parts of these forms is considered in relation to classification, 

 and an appeal is made to naturalists to agree to the abolition of many 

 genera, the author having sacrificed many of his own founding. The 

 criticism of the 407 genera permits 336 to be good, and as a moderate 

 number (thirty-six) of subgenera are allowed to continue, the diminution is 

 altogether about 100. The genera are grouped in alliances, and the plan 

 seems to be useful. The object of the classification proposed is to simplify, 

 many old and artificial divisions being dispensed with. 



A paper was read by Mr. B'rancis J. Briant, " On the Anatomy and 

 Functions of the Tongue of the Honey Bee (worker)." The author, atter 

 referring to the structure of the more conspicuous parts of the endoskeleton 

 and relations of the tongue thereto, treats specially of the maimer in which 

 the bee takes up the honey by its tongue. It appears that upon the nature 

 and function of the organ in question authorities are by no means agreed. 

 Kirby and Spence, supported by Huxley, and partly by Newport, aver 

 that the bee laps up its food, while Hermann Mtiller and others rather 

 attribute the action as due to the terminal whorl of hairs to which the 

 honey adheres, and therefrom is withdrawn upwards. The author of the 

 paper, from experiment and otherwise, is inclined to the view that the 

 honey is drawn into the mouth through the tongue by means of a com- 

 plicated pumping action of the organ itself, aided by the closely contiguous 

 parts. 



April 17, 1884. — Alfred W. Bennett, M.A., in the chair. 



Mr. Robert Lloyd Patterson, of Belfast, and Mr. Benjamin Lomax, of 

 Brighton, were elected Fellows. 



The only zoological paper read was by Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, namely, 

 his ninth contribution to the Ornithology of New Guinea, in which he 



