1869. ] MR. T. J. QUELCH ON AN HYBRID RHOMBUS. 473 
of which a fine living example is now in the Society’s Gardens, pre- 
sented by Dr. Bennett on the 10th of June last*. The last-named 
species appears to want entirely the rufous colour which ornaments 
the wings of the present bird and is also slightly apparent in O. 
australis. 
The Secretary read the following extract from a letter addressed 
to him by Mr. Morton Allport, F.Z.S., dated Hobart Town, 10th of 
August, 1869 :— 
‘The experiment now going on for the introduction of Salmon to 
the rivers of this colony has elicited one important scientific fact, which 
may be worth recording in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society.’ 
«Amongst the last shipment, which left Plymouth on the 8th of 
February, 1866, were 15,000 ova of Salmon Trout (Salmo trutta), 
of which a fair percentage hatched. The bulk of the fry were per- 
mitted to follow their natural instinct, and proceeded to sea on their 
reaching the smolt stage ; but the Tasmanian Salmon Commissioners 
retained a few in a suitable pond having gravelly rapids adapted for 
spawning-ground attached. Twelve of these fish attained weights 
varying from 3 lb. to 14 1b.; and during the end of June and begin- 
ning of July last four pairs formed rids and deposited spawn, in 
which the embryo fish are now distinctly visible.” 
Mr. John W. Clark exhibited, and made remarks upon, some weli- 
mounted and nearly perfect skeletons of the extinct Didine birds 
Didus ineptus of Mauritius and Pezophaps solitaria of Rodriguez, 
belonging to the Cambridge University Museum. 
Mr. Edwin Ward exhibited a specimen of a variety of the common 
Woodcock (Scolopax rusticula), in which the head was nearly black, 
and the back and breast mottled with the same colour. The speci- 
men was shot at Cromer, in Norfolk, and was stated to be the pro- 
perty of Mr. W. L. Barclay. 
Mr. T. J. Quelch exhibited a specimen of a supposed hybrid fish 
of the genus Rhombus, and made the following remarks upon it :— 
‘“‘ This fish, for which at present there is no name, is caught on 
the Dutch coast, and, so far as I know, only in the spring time, 
when the trawlers from Hull and Grimsby commence fishing. It 
must be very scarce ; for during the space of twenty years, in which 
time hundreds of thousands of Turbots and Brills have passed under 
my notice, I have not seen more than six or seven of this description, 
out of which I have secured the one exhibited, two for the Museum, 
one for Mr. Buckland, and one for Mr. Jonathan Couch. 
‘« It resembles the Turbot in shape, but the head is like the Brill. 
It has neither the spiny protuberances of the Turbot nor the scales 
of the Brill, but is thickly covered with small horny plates, a sort of 
* See P. Z. 8. anted, p. 431. 
