57 



April 28, 1835. 



WiUiam Yarrell, Esq., in the Chair. 



The Chairman exhibited a portion of the vertebral column of a 

 Sole, Solea vulgaris, Cuv., which had been sent to him by Sir Tho- 

 mas Phillipps, Bart., for the purpose of illustrating the manner in 

 which reunion takes place after fracture of the long spinous processes 

 of the caudal vertebra. Each end of the fractured bones is enlarged, 

 and appears to have become a new centre of ossification, from whence 

 processes have been sent out to join the neighbouring one ; and 

 where, as in this instance, several adjoining bones have partaken of 

 the injury, the new processes have, in more than one place, united 

 the broken portion, not to that with which it was originally con- 

 nected, but to the bone immediately preceding or following it : the 

 new bone exhibiting no appearance of disease, but possessing alto- 

 gether a healthy character. 



Mr. Gray exhibited a specimen of a Toad, which he had recently 

 received from Swan River, whence it was sent to him by Joseph 

 Wright, Esq. Believing it to be hitherto \indescribed, he charac- 

 terized it as the 



BoMBiNATOR AtJSTRALis. Bomb. hrunneus ; frontc, svperciliis, gnttis 

 dorsi sparsis, vittd lumbari, maculd ad basin artuum alterdque ad 

 basin pedum, maculisque majoribus irregularibus menialibus ven' 

 tralibusque flavis. 



Hub. in AustraHa. 



The back is generally smooth, and has some small smooth tuber* 

 cles arranged along it in longitudinal series. The toes are four in 

 number on the anterior feet, and five on the posterior : they are 

 slender, free, and unequal. 



Mr. Gray remarked, that the form of Toad to which the name of 

 Bombinator has been given had not previously been met with beyond 

 the limits of Europe ; and added, that this Australian species agreed 

 with the European, not only in the essential characters of the group, 

 but in the tone and nature of its colouring, and was only specifically 

 distinguishable by the mode in which the markings were distributed 

 on its surface. 



Mr. Gray also exhibited some specimens of the genns Echinus, aa 

 restricted by Lamarck and modem authors ; and proceeded to ex- 

 plain his views with regard to its subdivision into what he consi- 

 ders four natural genera, adapted to facilitate the distinction of the 

 species of this extensive group. He regards this distinction as of the 

 more importance, in as much as some of the characters which had been 



