730 DR. E. L. MOSS ON A VIRGTJLARIAN ACTINOZOON. [Nov. 18, 



" From the above it would appear that I am wrong in supposing 

 that the White Stork of China is the same as that of Japan, my 

 new Ciconia boyciana (see antea, pp. 512, 513). 



" I have also to state that Pitta nympha, figured in the ' Fauna 

 Japonica ' from a Japanese drawing, seems to be a reality. A live 

 Pitta in a lark's cage was brought to me on the 13th August. It 

 was said to be from this province, and had evidently been long in a 

 cage, as the lower mandible of the bill had outgrown the upper, and 

 the bird had all the appearance of a prisoner. It answers well to the 

 description in the ' Fauna Japonica ' of Pitta nympha, except that 

 its chin is as white as the crescentic band on its throat. 



" I was scarcely prepared for a Pitta so far north, and do not 

 doubt now that a similar bird occurs in Corea. It wants the white 

 crescent on its black axillaries, and seems to have its nearest ally in 

 P. oreas of Formosa. It devours grasshoppers greedily, and ha* a 

 wailing cry like that of a puppy dog in distress." 



The following papers were read : — 



1. Description of a Virgularian Actinozoon from Burrard's 

 Inlet, British Columbia. By Edward L. Moss, M.D., 

 F.R.C.S.I., Surgeon in charge R.N. Hospital, Esquimalt. 



[Received September 24, 1873*.] 



(Plate LXI.) 



The men employed in the dog-fisheries at Burrard's Inlet, close 

 to the northern mouth of the Frazer river, have from time to time 

 captured a strange-looking animal in their nets. Its soft tissues did 

 not admit of easy preservation ; and consequently all sorts of stories 

 were afloat as to the appearance of the animal in its fresh and perfect 

 state ; but its skeleton (a hard central axis, very like a peeled willow- 

 wand, requiring no preparation beyond the removal of its gelatinous 

 investments) has long been familiar to every one in the colony who 

 took any interest in natural history ; and occasional specimens have 

 strayed through the States or round the Horn to the learned in such 

 matters of England and Germany. In this way its skeleton has 

 stood sponsor for the creature, and has, I am informed, received 

 the provisional title of Osteocella septentrionalis from Dr. Gray, in 

 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1872, ix. p. 406 1. 



The specimen which I now have an opportunity of describing is 

 one from a number en route to that gentleman from my friend Justice 

 Crease, of Victoria, who has requested me to give him a description 

 of its present appearance, in case the preservative fluid in which its 

 brethren are forwarded should not prove capable of keeping them in 

 a state fit for investigation at the end of their long journey home. 



* Communicated (together with a letter from Dr. Moss) by Dr. J. E. Gray, 

 F.R.S. 



t See also articles in ' Nature ' for 1872, vol. vi. pp. 432, 436, & 516.— Ed. 



