92 



in a large open glass with salt water, in which they appeared un- 

 usually lively. I kept them thus, changing the water at inten'als, 

 until the 29th May, when we reached the English Channel. I then 

 packed them up, as before, in a box, and carried them from Ports- 

 mouth to Cornwall, and thence to Dublin, which I did not reach 

 until the 14th June ; here they again got fresh supplies of sea wa- 

 ter at inter\-als. One of them died during a temporary absence be- 

 tween the 30th June and 7 th July ; and on the 11th July the sur- 

 vivor was again committed to its prison, and was taken to Cornwall 

 and thence to London, where it was delivered alive to Mr. G. B. 

 Sowerby on the 23rd July. 



" This animal had thus travelled, during a period of six months, 

 over a vast extent of the surface of the globe, and had for a con- 

 siderable portion of that time been unavoidably deprived of its native 

 element."— W. H. B. 



At the request of the Chairman, Mr. Heming exhibited a Swift, 

 Cypsehis Apus, 111., preserved in spirit, and showing a consider- 

 able dilatation at the base of the lower jaw and upper part of the 

 throat. White has observed that " Swifts, when wantonly and 

 cruelly shot while they have young, discover a lump of insects in 

 their mouths, which they pouch and hold under their tongue ;" 

 but from this notice it would scarcely have been anticipated that so 

 large a collection was made as was found in the present instance. 

 The dilatation had a rounded appearance ; distended the skin so 

 as to show distinctly and widely separated tlie insertion of each of 

 the small feathers at this part; and measured in length 11 lines, 

 and in depth 6. On opening the pouch it proved to be simple, and 

 unconnected except with the ca-vdty of the mouth. 



Mr. Heming also exhibited a drawing taken from the recent bird. 



Dr. Marshall Hall showed some experiments in the decapitated 

 Turtle. Irritation of the nostrils, larynx, and spinal marrow induced 

 acts of inspiration ; that of the fins and tail induced movements of 

 the other parts respectively. 



But the principal object of Dr. Hall was to show that irritation 

 of the nen^es themselves equally induced movements of the limbs, 

 &c. When either the sentient or the motory branch of the lateral 

 spinal nerves was stimulated, motions were induced in all the limbs. 

 Dr. Hall stated that a movement of inspiration and of deglutition 

 was caused in the Donkey by irritation of the eighth pair of nerves. 

 It has been already stated that irritation of the nostrils, or the 

 branches of the fifth pair of nerves, induced inspiratory acts in the 

 Turtle. From these and other facts. Dr. HaU is induced to consider 

 the functions of these two nerves as similar. He further observed 

 that both are nerves of secretion, and that both are muscular ner\'es 

 — if the mmor portion of the fifth be included — as well as exciters 

 of respiration ; the fifth differs chiefly in being sentient, being dis- 



