PEOCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 273 



of Canterbury, New Zealand. The larva, &c, were obtained in rock-pools 

 between high and low water mark in Lyttleton Harbour. A small tubular 

 cylindrical pupa case, with attached fragments of a coralline, a larva some- 

 what damaged, and disconnected portions of others, enabled the identifi- 

 cation of the genus. 



Prof. P. M. Duncan gave the salient points of a paper " On the Genus 

 Pleurochinus, L. Agass., its classification, position, and alliances." After 

 noting the diagnosis of Pleurochinus by L. Agassiz, and the description of the 

 species P. bothrijoides of A. Agass., in the ' Revision of the Echini,'' the 

 linking it with the fossil forms from Gand described by DArchiac and 

 Haime, was shown to be erroneous. The supposed affinities with 

 Opechinus, Desor., a genus of no value, were considered, aud the minute 

 anatomy of the test of Pleurochinus was shown to correspond closely 

 with those of Temnopleurus. Placing the form (with A. Agassiz) as a 

 subgenus of Temnopleurus, its distinctness from Temnochinus and from 

 the nummulitic so-called TemnopleuridcB of DArfchiac and Haime, was 

 proved. 



Mr. F. Maule Campbell detailed some interesting observations " On 

 a probable case of Parthenogenesis in the House Spider, Tegenaria Guyonii." 

 He concluded by submitting that the fertility of one of the female spiders 

 in question, after a confinement of eleven mouths, during which time she 

 twice moulted and afterwards laid eggs, which were duly hatched, can 

 only be explained by one of the following alternatives :— either that 

 she was impregnated previous to the casting of the two exuvia?, i.e., in 

 an early and therefore immature stage ; or parthenogenesis occurs in 

 the Araneida. Hitherto no instance of this latter has been recorded in 

 the true Spiders, Araneida, though Megnin, Kramer and Michael have 

 shown that the females of some Acarini couple with the males prior to 

 their final moult, and that practically there are two stages of sexual 

 maturity ; moreover, Beck and others have related cases of undoubted 

 parthenogenesis in the Acari. 



A paper was read " On the Indication of the Sense of Smell in 

 Actinia" by Walter H. Pollock, with an addendum by G. J. Romanes. 

 These authors record experiments whereby it appears probable that these 

 lowly organized creatures are aware or evince recognition of the presence 

 of food when placed near them. This sense is possibly of a diffused 

 nature, and as suggested may be equivalent to an imperfect olfactory kind. 



A description was given of a new Infusorian allied to Pleuronema, 

 and obtained in ponds near Hertford by Mr. F. W. Phillips. 



Thereafter two papers were read, viz. :— " On the Teredo utriculus, 

 Gmelin, with remarks upon other Shipworms," by Mr. Sylvanus Hauley ; 

 and the fifteenth " Contribution to the Mollusca of the ' Challenger ' 

 Expedition," by the Rev. R. Boog Watson ; dealing with the families 



2 N 



