44 MK. F. E. BEDDABD ON THE ANATOMY [Feb. 1 , 



" 6. When seen in the nest the Lolach is of a ligbt brownish 

 colour, its skin is soft and slimy, being coated with a similar sub- 

 stance to that with which it lines the clay walls of its house. On 

 being exposed to the light, it soon becomes dark coloured and the 

 skin dry and hard. 



" 7. No signs whatever of a tube of gelatinous material appear 

 either in the nest or in the channel leading outward to the 

 opening, and the lips of the fish seem to be completely covered 

 with the tail that is brought o\er the mouth. 



" 8. The centre of the s\\"amp, where the deepest water is, seems 

 .to be a moi'e favoured part for the nests than in the shallow coasts. 

 One nest that I dug out had an exceedingly long aud tortuous 

 ohanuel, the bottom of the nest being twenty inches below the 

 surface and three feet away from the opening. I believe it to be 

 an exception. 



" On the rising of the water they push out the plug, and remain 

 for a little while ^\ith their noses out, before they finally leave 

 their winter home."' 



Mr. Gr. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., gave ati account of the Fishes 

 collected by Dr. J. Bach in the Kio Jm*ua, Brazil. Fifty-one 

 species were enumerated, of which nine \vere described as new, and 

 named as follows : — Platystoma juruense, Oxydoras trimaculatvs, 

 0. t r achy par ia , 0. hachi, 0. ehnf/atus, C'hceiostomiis haclii, Aceslra 

 c/ladivs, Cetengraulis juruensis, and Stemarchus tauicmdua. 



This paper will be published in full in the Society's ' Trans- 

 actions.' 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On the Anatomy of an Australian Cuckoo, Scythrops 

 nov(B-hoUandi(S \ By Frank E. Beddard, M.A., F.R.S., 

 Prosector to the Society. 



[Eeceived December 7, 1897.] 



So far as I can discover there is no account extant of the 

 structui'e of the soft parts of Scythrops novce-JiolIandice, save a few 

 very brief notes on a " Bird, of the Toucan-kind, from New 

 Holland," by John Hunter ", and some facts conceruing the 

 ptervlosis by Nitzsch ^. Certain parts of the skeleton, on the other 

 hand, are dealt with in Eyton's ' Osteologia Avium,' and the 

 skull has been described by Parker *. 



^ I am indebted for the specimens, upon the examination of which this 

 communication is founded, to the kindness of Mr. A. J. North, C.M.Z.S., of the 

 Australian Museum. 



- ' Essays and Observations. &c.,' ed. by R. Owen, Loudon, 1861, vol. ii. 

 p. 286. 



^ ' Ptervlography,' Engl. ed. by Sclater, Ray Soc. Publ. 



■» Trnns. Linn. Soc. (2) vol. i. 



