306 LETTER FROM MR. E. BLYTH. [NoV. 12, 



except in the dark, when it contracted them if the hght of a candle 

 fell upon it. The power of fully withdrawing them seemed to be 

 wanting. They were more than an inch in length when entirely dis- 

 played. The next day I perceived it lying in the angle at the bottom 

 of the glass containing sea-water, enveloped in a glaucous semitrans ■ 

 parent film of mucus looking like a stout spider's web, in which it 

 moved as a worm moves in its case. It had expanded to a length of 

 4^ inches, but on being touched immediately contracted so as to 

 measure only 1| inch. It possessed the power of swelling out portions 

 of the column ; sometimes the swelling appeared near the middle of 

 the body, sometimes near the base. On some occasions it lay with 

 the lower part of the body bent into a hook ; at others it quitted the 

 protection of its tube and floated at the surface of the water. The 

 animal was never observed to wriggle or glide through the water like 

 a worm ; all its motions were extremely slow. It was captured at 

 the bottom of a pool in the rocks near Funchal. 



Description of the Woodcut, p. 304. 



Fig. 1. Alicia mirahilis, as seen witli tlie base detaehed and uppermost, the ten- 

 tacles lying on tlie botiom of the tank. 



Figs. 2 and 3. Two of the appendages of the column, of the natural size. 



Fig. 4. One of the warts of an appendage, enlarged. The outer coat is colourless 

 and transparent ; the top of the interior body is dull purplibh, the lower 

 part yellowish brown, and the interspace colourless. 



November 12, 1861. 



Dr. J. E. Gray, V.P., in the Chair. 



Dr. P. L. Sclater exhibited a cast of the skull of the Aye-Aye 

 ( Chiromys madayascuriensis), taken from a specimen in the possession 

 of M. E. Verreaux, of Paris, the fourth example of this rare Mammal 

 received in Euroj^e. 



Mr. S. Stevens exhibited a portion of the collection of birds re- 

 cently forwarded by Mr. Wallace from Mysol and Waigiou, amongst 

 which were many rare and interesting species. 



The following extract from a letter addressed to the Secretary by 

 Edward Blyth, Esq. (Oorr. Memb.), dated Maulmein, May 10th, 

 1861, was read to the meeting : — • 



" I have made this day a grand discovery, which neither you nor 

 others will believe in at the first announcement, but it is true never- 

 theless, — viz. that the extraordinary Rhinoceros-horn figured * as 



* See P. Z. S. 185 I, p. 250. 



