Mr. J. Liswis Bo-NfnoTE, M.A., F.Z.S., exliibitecT two " waltzing " 

 Rats {Mus rattus) which he had bred in the course of his experi- 

 ments. They appeared in the F^ generation, and it was noted 

 that the strain had become weak and degenerate, other individuals 

 of that generation being born blind or otherwise defective. As 

 the " waltzing " character had been proved to have a Mendelian 

 inheritance in Mice, it would be an interesting fact that, shovild 

 this character prove to have a Mendelian inheritance in Rats, it 

 would be a case of the genesis of a Mendelian character brought 

 about by artificial conditions, e. g. environment. The original 

 stock were normal wild individuals. Mr. Bonhote also pointed 

 out that the two varieties of M. rattus found in Egypt, viz. 

 M. r. teciorum with white underparts and M. r. alexandrinus with 

 dark underparts, had a Mendelian inheritance, the former white- 

 bellied form being dominant to the dark-bellied form. These 

 experiments also included the study of the inheritance of a fawn- 

 coloured variety, hitherto unknown, which appeared as a '' sport" 

 from wild-caught parents. This variety had also a Mendelian 

 inheritance, the fawn-coloured ones being recessive to both the 

 normal wild forms. 



Mr. D. Seth-Smith, F.Z.S., Curator of Birds, exhibited a 

 spirit-specimen of a nestling Australian Regent-Bird {Sericidus 

 melinus) which had been hatched in the aviary of Mr. Reginald 

 Phillipps, of 26 Cromwell Grove, West Kensington, dui-ing the 

 past summer. 



Mr. E. G. BouLENGER, Curator of Reptiles, gave the description 

 of anew Tree- Frog from Tiinidad, living in the Society's Gardens, 

 The Frog, which was brought back by Dr. Lewis H. Gough in 

 July last, was one of the sinallest of the genus Hyla^ and was 

 remarkable for the rapid changes in colour and markings which 

 it displayed. 



Mr, Bruce F. Cummings read a paper, communicated by 

 Mr. T. A. Coward, F.Z.S., on " Distant Oi-ientation in Batrachia," 

 based on observations and experiments made by the author in 

 North Devon. Two species of Newts had been used for the 

 experiments, and the results obtained lent support to the hypo- 

 thesis that these batrachians possessed a homing faculty, but no 

 very definite instinct for detecting water, even from a short 

 distance. Of the factors discussed in connection with amphibian 

 migration, it was suggested that in regard to Newts, a com- 

 bination of their homing faculty and their marked tendency to 

 wa,lk downhill was chiefly of assistance to them in finding water 

 in Avhich to breed. 



Mr. Oldfield Thomas, F.R.S., F.Z.S., i-ead a paper on Mammals 

 collected in the Provinces of Sze-chwan and Yunnan, W. China, 

 by Mr. Malcolm Anderson, for the Duke of Bedford's Exploration 



