334 DR. J. MURIE ON THE [May 26, 
ceeding from a great distance, however near, is only’ heard early on 
still damp mornings. 
‘As I have little leisure at present, I will defer speaking of the 
white Tenioptere till my next letter. 
«Very truly yours, 
« «'W. H. Hupson.” 
Prof. Owen read a paper on Dinornis, containing notices of some 
of the internal organs of certain species of this genus, together with 
a description of the brain and of some nerves and muscles of the 
head of Apteryx australis. 
This paper, which forms the 16th part of Prof. Owen’s series of 
Memoirs on the extinct birds of the genus Dinornis and their allies, 
will be published in the Society’s ‘ Transactions.’ 
Mr. R. B. Sharpe exhibited, on behalf of Lord Lilford, F.Z.S., a 
specimen of the rare Podoces panderi of Fischer. This bird had been 
first described by Fischer de Waldheim, and was one of the chief 
zoological results of the journey from Orenburg to Bokhara, details 
of which were given by Eversmann (Reise von Orenburg nach Buch- 
ara) in 1823, and afterwards by Meyendorff (Voyage d’Orenbourg 
& Boukhara) in 1826. In these works the only specimen procured 
by the travellers on this expedition was stated to have been obtained 
in the desert of Kisilkoom. 
Mr. Sharpe stated his belief that the bird, on further examination, 
would prove to be a Desert Starling, allied probably to the genus 
Pastor, or, perhaps more strictly, to the South-African genus Dz/o- 
phus, but it appeared to exhibit characters also pointing towards the 
genus Certhilauda. 
The following papers were read :— 
1. Notes on the Anatomy of the Prongbuck, Antilocapra 
americana. By James Muriz, M.D., F.L.S., F.G.S., 
&c., Prosector to the Society. 
1. Prevtiminary Nore. 
It might with some justice be affirmed that, among others, two fea- 
tures specially characterize the present epoch of zoological science. 
1. One is an unceasing search for the so-called aberrant, interme- 
diate or passage forms, either between genera, families, or orders, nay 
even between the supposed firmly established classes* of animals. 
* Proe, Roy. Instit. of Gt. Brit. 7th Feb. 1868, “On the Animals which are 
most nearly intermediate between Birds and Reptiles,” by Prof. Huxley—a lec- 
ture as remarkable for its scope of generalization as for its terseness of language. 
Since this note was written other papers tending in the same direction, published 
by that naturalist, as well as the celebrated American, Prof. Cope, have come 
under my notice. Vide Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Noy. and Dee. 1867 ; 
the Proc. Boston Nat. Hist. Soc. June 1869; and, lastly, Quart. Journ. Geol. 
Soe. Lond. Nov. 10, 1869. 
