36 



Dr. F. W. Jones, F.Z.S., read a paper entitled " On the 

 Growth-forms and supposed Species in Corals," in which he 

 showed that the growth-form of the colony was the outcome 

 of the conditions of the environment, and was not a specific 

 character. The growth-form was largely the result of the 

 method of division of the zooids of the colony, and different 

 external conditions produced difi"erent methods of division, so 

 that almost any coral could show almost any method of division. 

 Every coral had three innate tendencies of gi^owth, viz. : (1) to 

 grow on the lines of an inherited growth-form, (2) to grow 

 upwards, and (3) to oppose its maximum area to the line of 

 currents. The conditions of the environment modified these 

 tendencies, e. g. : — (1) Rough water caused: (a) building dense 

 skeleton, (b) the corallites to be flush with the general surface, 

 (c) the whole growth to be rounded or flattened. (2) Deep water 

 caused : (a) building of light porous skeleton, (b) the loss of pig- 

 mentation, (c) the production of long attenuated branches. 

 (3) Sediment in the water caused : (a) the raising and narrowing 

 of the corallites, (b) the sculpturing of the intermediate spaces, 

 (c) the production of stunted and amorphous forms. Coloration 

 was no criterion of a species. The question of injury was a most 

 important one in the production of growth-forms, and an injured 

 colony might repair itself by a form of gi'owth differenc from its 

 original type. The various conditions of the environment pro- 

 duced an endless series of variations, but these were mere 

 modifications of a few "species"; and in many cases a large 

 colony might be broken up and its various fiugments referred 

 to many difi"erent named " species." The study of the zooid, the 

 study of the development of identical embryos exposed to d'ifierent 

 environments, nnd the noting of the range of variation in situ, 

 were the only methods by which the determining of the limits of 

 a " species " among the corals could be arrived at. 



Mr. G. A. BouLENGER, F.R.S., read a paper on the Lizard of 

 the Ionian Islands which had been named Lacerla ionica by 

 TIerr Philip Lehrs. Tie stated his opinion that this Lizard was 

 not entitled to specific rank and that it was merely a variety of 

 Lacerta taurica Pallas. 



Mr. Hamilton H. Druce, F.Z.S., communicated a paper on 

 " Neotropical Lycsenidfe," in which a large nvnuber of new forms 

 were described and the synonymy of many others discussed. 



Six cabinet drawers containing a representative series of the 

 group were exhibited. 



A communication from Mr. 0. Tate Regan, M.A., F.Z.S., 

 contained descriptions of Velifer Jiijpselo'jjtertts and of a new fish 

 of the genus Velifer. 



