131 



November 10, 1840. 

 William Yarrell, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



A letter from the Rev. R. T. Lowe, dated Madeira, August 8, 1840, 

 was read. It stated that Mr. Lowe had forwarded for the Society's 

 Museum two specimens of Snakes from Demerara, and a specimen of 

 the Ausonia Cuvieri of Risso, from Madeira. " The Ausonia," ob- 

 serves Mr. Lowe, " I scarcely need remark, is one of the most mter- 

 esting and valuable of my acquisitions, from the obscurity attenduig 

 it. and its supposed identity with Rafinesque's Luvarus imperialis. 

 It has been altogether passed over by Cuvier and Valenciennes m 

 their Histoire des Poissofis, though the former had previously taken 

 it up in a note in his second edition of his Regne Animal." 



A letter from Mr. J. Frembly, R.N., dated Gibraltar, September 

 23, 1840, was read. In this letter Mr. Frembly states that he had 

 forwarded for the Society a Hving specimen of a Brazilian Pheasant 

 {Penelope pileatn of Wagler), and also a skin of the same species 

 from Para. He had likewise forwarded some specimens of Manne 

 CoraUines and other Zoophytes, recently obtained during the prose- 

 cution of a coral fishery on the coast of Barbary. 



A letter from J. Wardrop, Esq., dated Oct. 29, 1840, wa^ next 

 read. It refers to a Fowl brought by W. Wardrop, Esq., from the 

 Island of Lemurs, and presented to the Society. In this Fowl the 

 spur had been removed from its proper place, and engrafted on the 

 head. Tlie letter moreover states, that the natives of the island men- 

 tioned often cause the spurs of the cock bird to grow upon its head, 

 and the comb upon its legs. 



The following paper, by G. Gulliver, Esq., F.R.S., entitled "Ob- 

 servations on the Blood Corpuscles of the Crocodilidce," was read. 



" According to the observations of MM. Prevost and Dumas, Wag- 

 ner, Schultz, and others, the long diameter of the oval blood corpus- 

 cles of the vertebrate animals is never more than one and a half or 

 twice the short diameter ; and M. Mandl states that this accords with 

 his experience, except in regard to the blood corpuscles of the Cro- 

 codilidce, of which he says that the long diameter is between two or 

 three times greater than the short diameter. 



" M. Mandl's observations are pubhshed in the Annales des Sciences 

 Naturelles, seconde serie, tome xii., in which the following remarks 

 occur : ' En prenant dans les globules des chameaux*, oiseaux, rep- 



* M. Mandl says in a note, " Nous avons examine le sang du Dvomadaire, 

 de I'AIpaca, et du Chameau." I may add that I have examined the blood 

 No. XCIV. — Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



