280 
rather attribute the action as due to the terminal whorl of hairs to which 
the honey adheres and therefrom is withdrawn inwards. The author of the 
paper on the other hand (from experiment and otherwise)is inclined to the 
view that the honey is drawn into the month through the inside of the 
tongue by means of a complicated pumping action of the organ itself aided 
by the closely contiguous parts. — J. Murie. 
4. Linnean Society of New South Wales. 
27th February, 1884. — 1. Monograph of the Australian Sponges. 
By R. von Lendenfeld, Ph.D. Part 1. This paper’ is introductory to a 
Monograph upon the Australian Sponges, large materials for which have al- 
ready been accumulated by the author, partly from his own collections, and 
partly from those in the Museums of Christchurch and Dunedin, New Zea- 
land, and of Adelaide, South Australia. ‘The real investigation of this branch 
of the Coelenterata may be said to begin with the work of Grant, 1826; to 
have risen to a new and much higher level under Schulze, 1875—1881, and 
to have been continued by Sollas, Keller, Vosmaer, Marshall, the author, 
and others with continually increasing success up to the present time. A 
sufficient account of the Bibliography of the Spongida is presented in this 
paper to enable those interested to find any desired information upon the 
subject, a matter of no small difficulty at present. — 2. The Scyphomedusae 
of the Southern Hemisphere. By R. von Lendenfeld, Ph.D. Part 1. 
The Scyphomedusae or »Jelly-fish« appear to be more numerous in the Sou- 
thern than in the Northern Hemisphere. Of the 210 known species, 104 
have already been found in the former and as the animals of that Hemisphere 
are not nearly so well-known as those of the Northern, the number of 
Southern species must doubtless be much greater than that mentioned, Only 
26 of the 104 Southern species are Australian, but this apparent poverty of 
the Medusae of our shores, is due to the fered investigation that has been 
made. In this paper all ne species of this Hemisphere are described. — 
3. Notices of some new Fishes by William Macleay, F.L.S., etc. Four 
species are here described. Two of them, Platycephalus longispinis and Uro- 
lophus bucculentus were taken in the Trawl in deep water outside the Heads 
of Port Jackson. The third, Petroscirtes Wilsoni, was found by Mr. J. D. Wil- 
son, at the North Shore; and the fourth, Athirinosoma Jamiesoni, was a small 
fresh water fish from the Baemer, one of the head waters of the Brisbane 
River. — 4. On the improvement effected by the Australian climate, soil, 
and culture on the Merino sheep. By P. N. Trebeck, Esq. In this paper 
Mr. Trebeck traces the changes and improvement which wool has undergone 
in Australia since the first introduction of German and Silesian sheep. 
Samples of the wool of all the periods and flocks alluded to, were exhibited. 
Mr. Trebeck concludes his paper by stating his opinion, that the whole of 
the country on our western watershed was eminently suitable for the Merino 
sheep, and that we only required the fostering assistance of an intelligent 
Government to keep in the front ranks of the wool producing countries of 
the world. — The President exhibited several fine specimens of the »Paper 
Nautilus«, which had been brought from Lord Howe Island by Mr. H.T. Wil- 
kinson, LE Hi is s said that they are of rare occurrence at that Island. 
Druck von n Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig. 
