1887.] MR. A. DENDY ON THE WEST-INDIAN CHALININ^. 503 



Cymborhynclms, but coloured with very pure tints of blue, green, 

 and yellow; a green-and-biue Ploceus (Mvnial), a large sooty 

 Turdinus, a very large Arachnothera of peculiar style of color- 

 ation, a Barbet, a Leucocerca, and a number of others. The only 

 ground-birds obtained were a pair of Partridges. The only Pitta 

 was P. arcuata. The only Nectarinia at all abundant was iV. tem- 

 mincki, of which the $ was also secured. The only mammals 

 obtained were two or three species of Rats, Squirrels, and a Tupaia, 

 with a Shrew. The Tupaia seems to be new, as also one of the 

 Squirrels, an animal not much larger than the pigmy Sciurus exilis, 

 and having long tufts of hair to the ears." 



Dr. Giinther exhibited a hybrid specimen produced by a male 

 Golden Pheasant {Thaumalea picta) and a female Pieeves' Pheasmt 

 (Pkasianus reevesi). It was a male in its second year, and had been 

 bred by Ralph Saunders, Esq., of Exeter, who had presented the 

 specimen to the British Museum. 



Dr. Giinther exhibited also a hybrid specimen produced by a 

 male white Fantail Pigeon and a female Collared Dove {Turtur 

 risorius). The specimen was the survivor of the last of three broods 

 reared by these birds in Dr. Giinther's aviaries. 



Dr. Giinther, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., communicated a paper by Mr. 

 Arthur Dendy, B.Sc, F.L.S., Assistant in the Zoological Depart- 

 ment of the British Museum, containing Observations on the West- 

 Indian Chalinince, with Descriptions of new Species, which will 

 appear in full, with illustrations, in the ' Transactions ' of the Society. 



The paper was divided into two sections — (1) Introductory 

 Remarks ; (2) Description of Genera and Species. It was based 

 upon the study of the large collection of West-Indian Chalinine 

 Sponges accumulated in the Natural- History Museum. 



In the first part of the paper it was pointed out that the species 

 described in the second part were especially interesting from two 

 points of view :— (1) they afforded excellent illustrations of the great 

 variability in external form to which species of Sponges living in 

 shallow or comparatively shallow water are subject; and (2) they 

 illustrated in a very striking way the manner in which the siliceous 

 spicules gradually degenerate and ultimately completely vanish as 

 the horny skeleton becomes more and more strongly developed. 



The first of these two general laws was best exemplified in the 

 cases of Spinosella sororia, D. & M., and Pachychalina variabilis, 

 n. sp. The second was clearly demonstrated, first, by the genus 

 Siphonockalina, in which the various species described showed 

 different degrees of degeneration in the spicules, ranging from 

 Siphonockalina spiculosa, n. sp., with great numbers of well- 

 developed spicules, constituting a most important part of the 

 skeleton-fibre, to Siphonochalina ceratosa, n. sp., in which the 

 skeleton consisted almost entirely of spongin, the spicules being 

 represented by the merest vestigial traces lying in the horny fibre. 



