1870. ] MR. G. KREFFT ON CERATODUS FORSTERI. 221 
‘* My specimen measured seven and a half feet in length, and, 
from its much worn teeth and the condition of its skull, appears as 
if it had attained full growth, whereas G. ¢ndicus reaches up to from 
fifteen to twenty feet in length. I have only just received it; so I 
am not in a position to say much about it. 
** Before this specimen reached me I was fully convinced, from my 
observations on the Irawady, that its Cetacean was a round-headed 
species.” 

Mr. Harting exhibited an unusually fine specimen of the Dusky 
Redshank (Totanus fuscus) in summer plumage. This had been 
stated to have been killed on the Thames, near Surbiton, but was 
subsequently discovered to have been sent from Holland. 

The Rev. H. B. Tristram exhibited two skins of Luscioniola me- 
lanopogon (‘Temm.), killed by Mr. Brookes near Etawah (north of 
Agra) in Central India, being the first instance of this rare species 
having been obtained in India, Mr. Tristram also exhibited some 
other rare Indian warblers. 
The following papers were read :— 
1. Description of a gigantic Amphibian allied to the Genus 
Lepidosiren, from the Wide-Bay district, Queensland. 
By Gerarp Krerrt, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S., Curator and Se- 
cretary of the Australian Museum, Sydney, New South 
Wales. 
The discovery of a species of Lepidosiren in Australia will no 
doubt take the scientific world by surprise—the more so as this newly 
found amphibian has a dentition different from that of Lepidosiren, 
and closely resembling the teeth of certain fossil Sharks described 
by Agassiz under the generic term of Ceratodus (Recherches sur les 
Poissons Fossiles, tome iii. p. 129). On this ground, and being 
convinced that the various species of animals classed under the name 
of Ceratodus were not sharks, but amphibians, I shall adopt Prof. 
Agassiz’s name, and describe the Australian amphibian, in honour of 
its discoverer, the Hon. William Forster, M.C.A., as 
CERATODUS FORSTERI. 
In general shape the specimen before me (fig. 1), which is somewhat 
mutilated and without intestines, resembles the Lepidosiren annec- 
tens. It is nearly 3 feet in length, has a broad flat head, small 
eyes, and four limbs in the shape of flappers. The body is covered 
with large cycloid scales, ten rows on each side, the third row from 
above marked, but not very distinctly, as a lateral line. There is a 
large gill-opening before each pectoral limb, containing well-developed 
branchize (on account of the state of the specimen, however, a care- 
ful examination of them was impossible), and a rather large pair of 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1870, No. XVI. 
