24 REPORT 'm7ll. 



This examination has been conducted, as before, by Mr. George Jenner, lately 

 the chief executive officer of the island ; and though I am not in a position to 

 give any thing like a detailed account of the results, I am happy to say that 1 

 believe they will be found in time to be fully as instructive as those of the 

 former examination have been. We are now in possession of several parts 

 of the skeleton of Pezophaps which have hitherto been wanting, and of more 

 perfect specimens of some of those bones which we before obtained. We 

 have also additional remains of the large Psittacine bii'd, described from a 

 single fragmentary maxilla by Prof. Alphonse Milne-Edwards as Psittacus (?) 

 rodericanm ; and this, I hope, will enable that accomplished palaeontologist 

 to determine more particularly the affinities of the species, which have 

 hitherto been doubtful ; and I may add that thus some further light may be 

 thrown upon the position of the P. mauritiamis of Prof. Owen. In the course 

 of last year my brother had the pleasure of receiving from Mr. Jenner proof 

 of the continued existence of one of the species described by Leguat as in- 

 habiting Rodriguez, but thought to have become extinct. This jjroof con- 

 sisted of a specimen procured in spirit of an undescribed and very distinct 

 Palceornis, which T have since described (Ibis, 1872, p. 33) as P. e.vsul. 

 Among the bones sent by Mr. Jenner are, I believe, some which belonged to 

 this bird. But more remarkable and interesting still are some remains which 

 are obviously those of a llalline bird, unquestionably allied to Ocydromus; 

 and these M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards informs me he is inclined to refer to 

 the " Gelinotte " mentioned by Leguat, the nature of which has hitherto been 

 only open to guess. There are also bones of other species of birds, perhaps 

 only inferior to this in interest. Most of these specimens have been intrusted 

 to the care of M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards ; for my brother and I believe 

 that the distinguished author of the ' Oiseaux Fossiles de la France' has 

 established a claim upon the assistance of all who are interested in extinct 

 ornithology by that admirable work of his ; and I learn from him that he will 

 shortly make public the results of these recent discoveries. 



Report of the Committee for Superintending the Monthly Reports of 

 the Prof/ress of Chemistry , consisting of Professor A. W. William- 

 son, F.R.S., Professor Frankland, F.R.S., and Professor Roscoe, 

 F.R.S. 



During the current year the Chemical Society has continued the publication 

 of the monthly reports of the progress of Chemistry, which had been com- 

 menced last year with the aid of the British Association. The labour of 

 preparing these Beports is considei'able ; and it is due to the chemists who 

 perform that arduous duty to acknowledge the great care which is bestowed 

 ujion it by them for a remuneration scarcely more than nominal. 



It has been found necessary, in view of the very great number of chemical 

 papers, to render the reports very brief, so as to convey a knowledge of the 

 general results of each paper without giving the details of evidence. 



The Members of the Committee have had the pleasure of noticing that the 

 reports are considerably valued by English chemists ; and there is reason to 

 believe that the anticipations which were formed of their usefulness in pro- 

 moting the advancement of chemistry wiU be fully realized. 



