54 PROF. W. B. BENHAM ON THE OSTEOLOGY [Fel). 4, 



careful examination of" the posterior half of the atlas shows that 

 it is not perfectly symmetrical. The sixth vertebra is distinctly 

 asymmetrical, but the seventh has retained its normal symmetry. 

 The drawing exhibited (text-fig. 9, p. 53) illustrates the facts 

 that have been dealt with. 



Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, F.Z.S., read, on behalf of Mr. E. Degen, 

 a paper entitled " Ecdysis, as Morphological Evidence of the 

 original Tetradactyle Feathering of the Bird's Fore-limb, based 

 specially on the Perennial Moult of Gymnorhina tibicen." The 

 material on which the papei- was based consisted of a large series 

 of specimens of the Gymnorhina obtained at regular intervals 

 throughout the moulting- period, and the author had thus been 

 able to give a very complete account of the perennial replacement 

 of the feathers, avoiding the errors due to observations on the 

 altered habits as produced by captivity. The author showed that 

 the moulting of the wing-feathers took place in definite groups, 

 and indicated a composite origin of the modern feathering. He 

 thought that the new facts brought forward strengthened his 

 already published theory of the wing-feathers being derived from 

 the feathers of a four-fingered manus. Incidentally he suggested 

 that the eutaxy of the Passeres was essentially difierent from that 

 of such primitive birds as the Gallinfe. 



This Memoir will be published in full in the Society's 

 ' Transactions.' 



The following papers were read : — 



1. Notes on the Osteology o£ the Short-nosed Sperm- Whale. 

 By W. Blaxland Benhabi, D.Sc, M.A., F.Z.S., 

 Professor of Biology in the University of Otago, New 

 Zealand. 



[Received November 8, 1901.] 

 (Plates II.-IY.^) 



A specimen of the Short-nosed Sperm-Whale {Cogia brevicejis) 

 came into my possession in 1900, and I have already communicated 

 to the Society some remarks on certain of the viscera ^ I now 

 wish to ofier some notes on the skeleton. 



The animal, a male measuring 8 ft. 9 inches, had been cast ashore 

 on the sandy beach at Parakanui, Otago ; and though it^had been 

 a good deal cut about, I was able to obtain the entire^skeleton, 

 together with the cartilaginous portions of such structures as the 

 hyoid, sternum, and limbs : these were put through the gelatino- 

 glycerine process without any previous separation from the bones, 



1 For explanation of the Plates, see p. 62. 



2 See P. Z. S. 1901, vol. ii. p. 107. 



