414 



IV. Gatt. Anurophorus Nie. 



Anurophorus laricis Nie, selten in größeren Höhlen, gemein in 

 kleineren, trockenen Höhlen (hauptsächlich imSlouper-Thale, Punkva- 

 thale etc.) unter Holz etc. 



Prag, am 18. Juni 1900. 



II. Mittheilungen aus Museen, Instituten etc. 



1. Zoological Society of London. 



May 22nd, 1900. — The Secretary announced that Mr. J. S. Budgett, 

 F.Z.S., had started on a second expedition to the Gambia, in order to con- 

 tinue his studies of the Fish-fauna of that colony, and especially to further 

 investigate the life-history and development of the anomalous forms Poly- 

 pterus and Protopterus. — A communication was read from Prof. G. B. Howes, 

 F.B.S., and Mr. H. H. S win nerton, B.Sc, on the development of the 

 skeleton of the Tuatera, Sp/ienodon (Hatteria) punctatus , which was stated 

 to be the outcome of 18 months' work on materials supplied to the authors 

 by Prof. Dendy, of Christchurch, N.Z. An account was given of the egg, 

 the hatching, and the habits of the hatched young, which the authors reared 

 till four months old. Thus a stage (T) was added to Prof. Dendy's series. 

 The main conclusions arrived at were stated to be as follows : — Two orders 

 of intra-centra are formed, of which one persists as the chevrons. The car- 

 tilaginous vertebral bodies arise as paired structures, and the intra-vertebral 

 plates are chordal in origin. Inter-vertebral plates are formed in the tail, 

 and the intra-vertebral plates have a special relation to the "splitting'' 

 process; also a series of central chordal vesicles is formed at the points of 

 greatest flexibility. The "uncinates" are mostly separate in origin. The 

 brain-case is a product of the union of distinct ethmo- and otosphenoidal 

 cartilages, and its fenestrae are primary. The trabeculae represent a pair of 

 pre-oral visceral arches, and the epipterygoid bone is an ossification of the 

 ascending process of the pterygo-quadrate cartilage. The columella auris 

 and stapedial processes are at all stages continuous with the hyoid arch, and 

 that is attached only to the quadrate above. The meeting of the pterygoids 

 and vomers is of an order leading to the Chelonia and Plesiosauria, and 

 the ptery-quadrate cartilage closely resembles that of Ichthyophis. The 

 "abdominal ribs" arise by numerous calcifications and their median segment 

 may be paired. There is no supra-temporal bone present at any stage. The 

 hip-girdle is simpler than in the Lacertilians and two types of pelvis are 

 represented. There is no trace of the fifth tarsale in the ontogeny, and while 

 a centrale is incorporated in the a astragalus^ there are three centralia carpi 

 represented during development. Two types of cheek-teeth, and the susten- 

 tacular ligaments which support the medulla and spinal cord, were also de- 

 scribed. — The Malacostracan Crustacea collected by Mr. Rupert Vallentin, 

 F.L.S., at the Falkland Islands, from December 1898 to February 1899, 

 formed the subject of a paper by the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, F.R.S. 

 Many of the species had long been known, as several scientific expeditions 

 had been made to these islands during this century. This carefully made 



