PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 215 
Starfish), in violent convulsions. On examination I found the stomach 
empty, save for a few minute fragments of the shelly matter of the Sun-star. 
There was no trace of irritation of the stomach, the poison being apparently 
of the cerebro-spinal type. This case seems to corroborate the theory that 
Starfish kill bivalves by injecting poison between the lips of their shells.— 
Cuares A. Parker (Gosforth, Carnforth). 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
ZOOLOGICAL Society oF Lonpon. 
March 1, 1881.—Prof. W. H. Frowrr, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in 
the chair. 
The Secretary exhibited the cast integument of a large Spider (Mygale 
bistriata ?) which had been shed in the Society’s Gardens. 
Mr. G. E. Dobson read a paper on the anatomy of the family Hrinaceide, 
commencing with that of the curious and rare form Gymnura Rafflesit, with 
which the species of Hrinaceus were compared. Gymnura was shown to be 
a peculiarly central form, the survivor probably of a once widely-spread 
group. Altogether, the anatomy of thirteen species of Hrinaceide@ was 
treated of in this paper. 
A communication was read from Mr. F. Moore, containing descriptions 
of some new genera and species of Asiatic Nocturnal Lepidoptera. The 
characters of 150 new species were given representing eighty-two genera, 
of which twenty-nine were new to science. 
A communication was read from Mr. R. Collett, containing an account 
of the breeding habits of the Grey Seal, as observed on the Fro Islands, 
off Trondbjem’s Fiord, in Norway. 
Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe read a note on the Fantail Flycatcher of Western 
Australia, Rhipidura preissi, of which he had lately had, for the first time, 
an opportunity of examining a specimen. 
March 15, 1881.—Prof. W. H. Fuower, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in 
the chair. 
The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the 
Society's Menagerie during the month of February, and called special 
attention tu a female Bactrian Camel, Camelus bactrianus, formerly belonging 
to Ayoub Khan, which Colonel O. H. St. John, had purchased from its 
captors at Kandahar and presented to the Society; and toa male Wild 
Sheep, Ovis cycloceros, obtained from Afghanistan, and presented to the 
Society by Capt. W. Cotton. 
