14 



small metatarsal pad, the absence of skin-lobes protecting the 

 claws on the fore-feet, the nakedness of the area of the feet 

 round the plantar pad, the structure of the perfume-gland, etc. 



Miss Mary L. Hett, B.Sc, F.Z.S., gave an account of some 

 new Pentastomids obtained from the lungs of snakes which had 

 died in the Society's Gardens. 



There is great difficulty in establishing diagnostic characters 

 for the separation of species in the Pentastomids. Size and 

 number of annulations have generally been used as standards of 

 comparison and they hold good in a certain number of cases ; but 

 in many forms both these characters are so variable as to afford no 

 sound basis for classification. This is illustrated by Porocephalus 

 bifurcatus and three allied forms which are here described as 

 varieties. They were all obtained from the lungs of snakes from 

 different regions. An average specimen of each form differs 

 from the other varieties in length and number of rings, but 

 intermediate forms occur which almost bridge the gap between 

 them in both particulars. 



Hence it is difficult to regard them as separate species. If, 

 however, the differences should prove to be of specific value, the 

 four species, together with one other, should certainly be united 

 in a new genus, as they differ from all other Pentastomids and 

 resemble one another in several important particulars, notably in 

 the possession of an anterior female genital aperture. 



The following reports on the collections made by the British 

 Ornithologists' Union Expedition and the Wollaston Expedition 

 in Dutch New Guinea were read, and Mr. W. B. Ogilvie- 

 Grant gave a short account of the expeditions and the results 

 obtained : — 



Coleoptera. By G. J. Arrow, G. A. K. Marshall, F.Z.S., 



and C. J. Gahan. 

 Diptera. By F. W. Edwards, B.A., F.E.S., and E. E. 



Austen, F.Z.S. 

 Odonata. By Herbert Campion. 

 Vermes. By Dr. L. Cognetti de Martiis. 



These reports will be published in the ' Transactions/ 



Mr. G. Arnold, M.Sc, A.B.C.S., and Dr. 0. L. Boulexger, 

 M.A., F.Z.S., contributed a paper containing an account of the 

 freshwater Medusa recently discovered by one of the authors in 

 the Limpopo River system. This jelly-fish is referred to the 

 same species [Limnocnida rkodesice Boulenger) as the form 

 described from a tributary of the Zambesi River in 1912. 

 Species of Limnocnida are now known to occur in the five 



