132 REPORT — 1871. 



acrogen becomes absurd. Such being- the case, Trof. Williain^on proposed to 

 separate the vascular Cryptogams into two groups. The higher one, comprehend- 

 ing the Equisetaceaj, Lycopodiaceoe, and Isoetacete, to be termed the Cryptogamife 

 Exogenaj, and which would form a connecting link between the Cryptogams and 

 the true Exogenous plants through the Cycadese, and the other Gymnospermous 

 Exogens. The lower one to be called the Cryptogaminj Eadogense, to comprehend 

 the Ferns, which will unite the Cryptogams with the Eudogens through the 

 Palmace ec. 



Zoology. 



Notice of two Sjiecimens of Echinorhinug spinosiis talcan in the Firth of Forth 



By Professor J. Duns, 



On the Barer Baptonal Birds of Scotland. By Professor J. Duns. 



0)1 the Carabus nitens of the Scottish Moors. By Dr. Geierson-. 



The Zooloyical Results of the Dredging Expedition of the YacJit 'Noma ' off 

 the Coast of Spain and Portugal in 1870. By W. Savili.e Kent. 



The expedition was organized and superintended by Mr. Marshall Hall, the 

 owner of the yacht, Mr. Kent accompanying him to supervise the collection and 

 preservation of natural-history specimens, as also to report on all the novelties 

 or objects of interest that might be obtained. The sponges collected during the 

 expedition appear to have furnished the greater number of forms new to science, 

 embracing more particularly many new representations of the group to which tho 

 beautiful Euplcctella, or " Venus's flower-basket," and the "Glass-rope sponge," 

 Ilyaloncma, belong, the latter, indeed, being amongst the spoils. All these_ forms 

 were dredged in' the deep-sea fishing ground, 400 to 800 fathoms, oft' Cezimbra, 

 at the mouth of the Sado river ; and from the same locality, with the assistance 

 of the native fishermen, they had the good fortune to secure examples of several 

 rare species of deep-sea ground sharks which frequent that coast line, including 

 among others Pneiidotriakis 7)ucrodon, a species recently described by Professor 

 Barboza du Eocage, of the Lisbon Museum. Fiisvs contrariiis and a species of 

 Cassis allied to C. saburon are among the rarer shells referred to by Mr. Kent, 

 the former being interesting on account of its identity with a common fossil of 

 the Norwich Crag, and the latter from its affinities with Japanese and Chinese 

 species rather jthan with uny known Atlantic or Mediterranean form. The occur- 

 rence in the same waters of a variety of Ilyaloncma, scarcely to be distinguished 

 from the well-known Japanese H. Sieboldi, is also commented upon by Mr. Kent, 

 as illustrating another instance of this singul.ar distribution of allied species. 

 Keviewing the whole amount of material collected during the cruise, Mr. Kent 

 separates it into two portions, presenting respectively two entirely distinct facies. 

 The first of these, including that collected from the shore line down to a depth 

 of 100 fathoms, presents an interblending of Mediterranean species with those in- 

 habiting our own more temperate coasts : while the remaining one, embracing all 

 those acquired at a depth of from 400 to 800 fathoms, are remarkable for their 

 boreal or cold-water area aspect and affinities, and in this respect, according to Mr. 

 Kent, entirely supporting the deductions arrived at by Dr. Carpenter, from his ex- 

 tensive study of the fauna of these great depths in connexioji with the expeditions 

 of the ' Lightning ' and ' Porcupine.' Among the more interesting Mediterranean 

 forms taken, especial mention is made of Dendrophyllia rainea, a massive branching 

 coral, not before recorded as occurring so far north, as also of various species of 

 MureXf Calappa gramdata, Cesttan veneris^ and other zoophytes usually supposed to 



