422 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—D. 
‘Protopterus, to carry the embryo over the difficult period before the internal 
gills and lung become functional. The systematic position of Polypterus is 
quite uncertain. It is certainly not a direct descendant of the Osteolepids, but 
appears to be of Actinopterygian origin. If so, it is not improbable that its 
external gill, borne on the hyoid arch instead of the branchial arches as in 
Amphibia and Dipnoi, may have been independently acquired under the 
pressure of similar circumstances. 
9, Prof. J. F. van Bemmeten.—The Colour-markings of Mimetice 
Butterflies. 
The author has made a study of the colour-markings of mimetic butterflies 
from a strictly morphological standpoint. He concludes that the resemblances 
between the mimetic forms and their so-called models may be interpreted as 
due to the retention of a primitive type of coloration, the mimetic forms being 
more, and not less, primitive than the non-mimetic members of the same genera. 
The advantage of protection gained by their resemblance to the models may be 
a result but is not a cause of the resemblance. 
10. Mr. D. Warp Curter.—Recent Investigations on Soil Protozoa. 
The investigations of Russell and Hutchinson on partial sterilisation of the 
soil led to the view that in normal soil the increase in bacterial numbers was 
inhibited by a biological factor provisionally regarded as the soil protozoa. The 
first counting methods used were unsatisfactory, since only the total numbers 
were found; no ‘distinction was drawn between the active and cystic con- 
ditions. A satisfactory method has recently been devised. Since July 5, 1920, 
consecutive daily soil samples have been taken for 365 days, and, by the new 
method, the active and cystic numbers found for fourteen species of protozoa. 
The data obtained show that an inverse relationship exists between the bacterial 
and active ameebic numbers; when the latter are high the former are low. The 
bacteria are not greatly affected by the flagellates, but in one species (Oicomonas 
termo, Martin) the active numbers show a periodicity which also obtains in 
artificial cultures. 
11. Dr. Newson Annannaue.—The Biological Aspect of Taxonomy. 
The paper was a plea for a broader concept of Taxonomy. The author, while 
recognising the importance of type-specimens, protested against the tendency to 
base identifications, and thence systems of classification, solely or mainly on the 
comparison of other specimens with the types of species. He insisted on the 
importance of examining large series of individuals of precisely known 
provenance, of discriminating between morphological and adaptive characters, 
and of the closest possible connection between field observations and museum 
work. Practical suggestions were offered for the carrying out of these reforms, 
such as frequent exchange of officers between British biological institutions and 
those in the Colonies and India; the introduction into British museums of the 
colonial principle of the ‘Sabbatical Year,’ and the preparation of local 
‘faunas’ locally. 
12, Reports of Committees. See p. 260. 
13, Sir Srpney F. Harmer, K.B.E., F.R.S.—Modern Whaling. 
The examination of reports by Government officials, supplemented by 
voluminous statistics which have been furnished by the whaling companies, 
at South Georgia and elsewhere, to the British Museum (Natural History), 
has shown that there are indications of a serious diminution in the number 
of whales, in an industry which commenced so recently as the end of 1904. 
In the case of the humpback, a marked decrease in the number of individuals 
captured commenced after the end of the season 1911-12; while there is reason 
to fear that a similar decline in the numbers of blue whales commenced after 
the end of the season 1917-18. : 
‘The study of the records of the lengths of foetuses obtained principally at 
South Georgia in the South, and from various localities in the north, has 
led to the conclusion that in each of the three species (humpback, fin whale, 
blue whale) principally hunted there is a period during which pairing takes 
place with maximum frequency. In the southern whales the periods in question 
