10 
who, in order to show his sympathy with the technical side of the 
Society’s work, proposed to further Zoological Science by having 
systematic collections made in that part of the world. The speci- 
mens would be laid before the Society from time to time, and 
after being worked out by specialists, would be presented to the 
National Museum. 
Of the present series Mr. Thomas drew attention to a fine 
Marten which appeared to be different from the true J/ustela 
melampus, and which he proposed to call 
MUSTELA MELAMPUS BEDFORDI, subsp. n. 
General colour olivaceous isabella, quite different to the golden 
yellow of true melampus. Throat and neck with a strongly con- 
trasted yellow patch. 
Hab. Nava district, Southern Central Hondo. 
Type. Adult male. Original number 213. Collected by M. P. 
Anderson. 
Mr. R. I. Pocock, the Superintendent of the Gardens, exhibited 
a female specimen of the Jamaican Scorpion, Centrurus insulanus, 
carrying its young on its back. The specimen had been presented 
to the Society by Mr. H. Munt, F.Z.8. 
Dr. P. Cuaumers MircHeE.t, Secretary of the Society, read a 
paper entitled “On the Intestinal Tract of Mammals,” and 
illustrated it by lantern-slides prepared from some of the drawings 
which he hoped would accompany the memoir on publication. 
Tn the course of the last eight years, the Author had taken every 
possible opportunity of studying the alimentary tract of Mammals 
from specimens that had died in the Society’s Gardens, and had 
obtained additional material elsewhere, with the result that his 
investigations covered over two hundred individuals, and included 
the greater number of the Mammalian Orders. The paper 
described the Mammalian Intestinal Tract as being composed of 
three definite morphological regions :—the duodenum ; Meckel’s 
tract, which was derived from the pendent loop of Mammalian 
embryology, and was an outgrowth corresponding to only a very 
short part of the primitive straight gut; and the hind-gut. As 
compared with the disposition in Birds, the Mammahan duodenum 
was less specialised; Meckel’s tract, which in Birds the Author 
had already shown fell into a series of patterns of systematic 
importance, was much more homogeneous throughout the Mam- 
malian series; the hind-gut, which was of little importance in 
Birds, was developed in Mammals in varied patterns which had 
systematic importance. The Author showed that the single cecum 
which was characteristic of Mammals was probably one of an 
original pair, and that the traces of this paired origin were much 
more frequent in Mammals than had been supposed. He stated 
that the primitive paired ceeca of Mammals were homologous with 
those of Birds, The paper then gave a systematic account of the 
