1906.] ON MEDUS.^ OF THE THIRD TANGANYIKA EXPEDITIOJT. 179 



March 6, 1906. 



Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., Vice-President, 

 in the Chair. 



Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., exhibited a specimen 

 of the largest Frog known, Rana goliath Blgr., from South 

 Cameroon, described in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural 

 History ' (1906, xvii. p. 317). This Frog measured 10 inches from 

 snout to vent, and was one of the most intei'esting discoveries 

 made by Mr. G. L. Bates, C.M.Z.S. Mr. Boulenger stated that 

 an even larger living specimen intended foi- the Zoological 

 Gardens had been secui-ed by Robertson, the young keeper who 

 had accompanied Mr. Bates to Cameroon last summer in order 

 to collect animals for the Society ; but the specimen, which he 

 had kept in a large tin, escaped during the night. 



Among othei- Batrachians which Robei'tson had been able to 

 keep alive, but did not succeed in bringing home, were examples 

 of the large West- African Tree-Frog, Hylamhates T%ifus Reichen., 

 one of which, at the end of August, produced a number of eggs, 

 which wei'e also exhibited befoi'e the Meeting. These eggs were 

 remai'kable for their large size, 5 or 6 millimetres in diameter, 

 and the absence of pigment. No doubt, to judge by the size of 

 the vitellus, the young of this Frog undergoes at least a consider- 

 able part of the metamorphosis within the Q%^. On recently 

 opening the mouth of a female Hylamhates hrevirostris Wei-ner, 

 from South Cameroon, forming part of Mr. Bates's collection, 

 Mr. Boulenger was surprised to find it contained a few large 

 yellow eggs, 4 millim. in diameter, very similar, except for their 

 size, to those of the larger H. rufus. Other eggs, identical with 

 those in the mouth, were still in the oviducts. This mode of 

 nursing approached that of the Chilian Rhinoderma darioini, in 

 which the male keeps the eggs in the much-distended vocal sac 

 until the young are hatched in the pei'fect condition. The buccal 

 nursing by the female made a novel addition to the already long 

 list of exti'aordinary breeding-habits in Batrachians. 



Mr. R. T. Giinther exhibited some specimens of the Medusa, 

 Limyiocnida tanganicce, obtained by Dr. W. A. Cunnington in Lake 

 Tanganyika during the winter months of 1904-05. The collection 

 was of impoi'tance, because it clearly demonstrated that the views 

 of Mr. J. E. S. Moore with regard to the life-cycle of the Medusa 

 were erroneous, for whereas in 1897 Mr. Moore thought that 

 he had discovered* that the asexual method of reproduction by 

 budding ceased in June and July (a conclusion which he stated that 

 he had confirmed in 1900 during the months of September and 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. 1899, pp. 291-2. In this paper, "Boehm, 1887," should read 

 " Boehm, 1883." 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1906, Vol. I. No. XIIT. 13 



