206 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON ANTHUS CERVINUS. [A-pF. 1, 



Professor Flower exhibited four skulls of the Common Bottle-nose 

 Whale {Hyperoodon rostratus) of the Northern Seas, exhibiting the 

 progressive development with age of the maxillary crests in the 

 male sex, as described in the Proceedings of the Society for 18S3, 

 p. 722. They were all from animals caught by Captain David Gray, 

 and presented by him to the Museum of the Royal College of Sur- 

 geons. 



No. 1. Skull of a male foetus (No. 2897, Cat. Osteology, Mus. 

 Roy. Coll. Sure;, pt. ii. 1884), taken from the uterus of its mother, 

 caught in May"l883 in 68° 43' N. lat., 11° W. long. The animal 

 measured 10 feet 1 1 inches in length. The cranium was &7 cm. long 

 from the occipital condyles to the apex of the rostrum, and the 

 maxillary crests were so little developed as to rise only 6 cm. above 

 the level of the contiguous premaxillary bones. 



No. 2. Skull of a young male (No. 2896). From an animal 16 

 feet in length, taken by tlie side of its mother, and which had only 

 milk in its stomach. The cranium was 71 cm. in length, with maxil- 

 lary crests 16*5 cm. high. 



No. 3. Skull of an older male (No. 289.5), supposed by Captain 

 Gray to be about one vear old. It was 19 feet 6 inches in length, 

 and'had been caught July 9, 1883, in 71° 19' N.lat, 0° 5' W. long. 

 The cranium was 134 cm. in length, and the crests 24 cm. high. 



No. 4. Skull of an adult male (No. 2894). From an animal 

 taken in the North Atlantic, between Iceland and Jan Mayen Island, 

 in the summer of 1881. The cranium was 180 cm. in length, and the 

 maxillary crests 46 cm. high, rising considerably above the occipital 

 crest, and so thick as to approacli very closely to each other in the 

 middle line. This was the form described by Gray under the name 

 of Hyperoodon latifrons, and afterwards Lagenncetus latifrons ; but 

 the type specimen, now in the British Museum, was from a still older 

 animal, the crests being both higher and more massive. 



Professor Flower also exhibited a mass of pure spermaceti 

 obtained by Messrs. Langton and Bicknell from the " head-matter " 

 of Hyperoodons killed by Captain Gray, thus corroborating the 

 observation of Chemnitz quoted in the paper referred to above. 



Mr. Sclater exhibited specimens of the eggs of two species of 

 Testudinata recently laid by animals living in the Society's Gardens, 

 viz. Testudo elephanfopus and Chelys maiamata. Both were pure 

 white and nearly circular in form, the former measuring I'S inch and 

 the latter 15 inch in diameter. 



Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe exhibited and made remarks on a Red- 

 throated Pipit {Anthus cervinus), caught near Brighton in March 

 last and now in the collection of Mr. T. J. Monk, at Lewes. Mr. 

 Sharpe exhibited at the same time an example of the true Water- 

 Pipit {Anthus spinolettd), captured at Lancing, in Sussex, in March 

 1877, from the collection of Mr. F. Nicholson. 



