136 



paper by Dr. F. P. Moreno and himself, on a piece of skin supposed to be- 

 long to the Neomylodon Listai of Ameghino, from a cavern near Consuelo 

 Cove, Lost Hope Inlet, Patagonia. Dr. Moreno's contribution was an ampli- 

 fication of his remarks on the subject made at a previous meeting. He main- 

 tained that the specimen in question was of great antiquity, and belonged to 

 the extinct Ground-Sloth, Mylodon. In reply to objections founded on its 

 state of preservation, he supported his contention by mentioning that he had 

 found a w^ell-preserved mummified human body in another cavern in the 

 same district, which certainly belonged to an extinct race of great antiquity, 

 unknown even to the present Tehuelche Indians. Mr. Woodward gave a 

 detailed description of the specimen , pointing out that the skin was unique, 

 even for an Edentate, in having the armour of ossicles confined to the lower 

 half of the dermis , while the covering of hair was implanted in every part 

 of the upper half. He thought he could recognize in it the base of the left 

 ear, and concluded that the piece of skin had probably belonged to the neck. 

 It certainly represented an animal quite as large as Mylodon\ but he noted 

 discrepancies in the microscopical structure of the dermal ossicles, which in- 

 clined him to believe in its generic distinctness. The problem could not be 

 solved, because the dermal armour of Mylodon had only been definitely 

 described in the lumbar region, and it was quite possible that the ossicles in 

 the flexible neck of the animal might not agree with those in the compara- 

 tively rigid back above the pelvis. If Dr. Moreno had not been able to give 

 so circumstantial an account of the discovery , Mr. Woodward would have 

 unhesitatingly pronounced the skin to belong to a recent animal killed quite 

 lately. — A communication was read from Mr. P. W. Bassett-Smith, 

 R.N., F.Z.S., containingobservations on the formation of the Coral-reefs on 

 the N. W. Coast of Australia. Special attention was called to the part played 

 by massive Polyzoa in forming Coral-reefs. — A communication was read 

 from Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., containing an account of a collection 

 of Reptiles and Batrachians made by Mr. J. D. La Touche in N.W. Fokien, 

 China. Eight species were described as new to science in the present paper, 

 amongst which was a Snake belonging to a new genus, most nearly allied to 

 Opisthotropis of Günther, proposed to be called To^mo/i/iî's Latouchii^ after its 

 discoverer. — A communication was read from Sir G. F. Hampson, Bart., 

 F.Z.S., containing the second portion of his "Revision of the Moths of the 

 subfamily Pyraustinae of the family Pyralidae'''' . — P. L. Sclater, Secretary. 



III. Personal -Notizen. 



Sassari. Il Dr. Daniele Rosa sinora assistente al R. Museo zoo- 

 logico di Torino è stato nominato professore straordinario di zoologia e di 

 anatomia e fisiologia comparata nella R. Università di Sassari. 



Necrologe. 



Am 25. Januar starb in Clifton The Rev. Thomas Hincks. Er war 

 am 15. Juli 1818 in Exeter geboren. Rühmlichst bekannt haben ihn seine 

 Schriften über britische Coelenteraten.und Bryozoen gemacht. 



Am 27. Februar starb in Zürich Prof. Dr. Gustav Schoc h , Docent der 

 Entomologie am eidgenössischen Polytechnikum. 



Druck von Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig. 



