30 



giving an account of the very completely known South African 

 form, he also discussed the structure of the Elgin allied forms, 

 Ornithosvjchvs and others. The grovip of Pseudosuchians he 

 regarded as an extremely important pi'imitive reptilian order, 

 as there is good reason to believe that not only does it contain the 

 ancestor of the Dinosaurs, but also the ancestors of the Ptero- 

 dactyles and Birds. Euparkeria and Omithos^ichus are, in 

 structure, almost Dinosaurs, and it is held that when the bipedal 

 liabit was more fvilly acquired the few characters not quite 

 Dinosaurian would become Dinosaurian. Birds are held to 

 have originated from a Pseudosuchian which, by a bipedal habit, 

 had acquired a Dinosaur-like hind limb, and had then become 

 arboreal in habit and acquired the peculiar power of flight. 



Mr. E. G. Boui/ENGER, F.Z.S., Curator of Pt-eptiles, read a paper 

 giving an account of the experiments which he had, for the past 

 year, been conducting on the Metamorphosis of the Mexican 

 Axolotl {Amhlystovia tigrimwi), aiid gave a detailed description 

 of the changes that take place in the course of transformation. 

 He also exhibited a, number of specimens in the perfect or 

 Amblystome condition. The conclusions arrived at by the 

 author, as a result of his expeiiments, were that, in accordance 

 with Mile, de Chauvin's experiments, and contrary to those of 

 Dr. Powers, the Axolotl will, with a few exceptions, transform 

 if placed under special conditions which force it to breathe air 

 more frequently than usual ; that staiwation, irregular feeding, 

 and temperature have no influence on the metamorphosis ; that 

 the elimination of oxygen from the water has likewise no bearing 

 on the point, as the animal will not, under the circumstances, 

 rise to the surface and make use of its lungs at more frequent 

 intervals than animals placed under normal conditions. 



Mr. G. E. BuLLEN contributed a short paper, communicated by 

 Mr. John BTopkinson, F.Z.S., " On some Cases of Blindness in 

 Marine Fishes." Work hitherto performed, e. g. that of Hofer, 

 de Drouin de Bouville, and others, upon the pathology of fishes 

 has been directed largely upon species of freshwater habitat. 

 The present author has found, in certain specific cases of blindness 

 in marine fishes, pathological conditions similar to those described, 

 and others with slight modifications, in several freshwater species. 

 The examples dealt with in detail are traumatic corneal opacitis 

 in a Conger-Eel, corneal opacitis, etc., in a Greater Weaver, 

 and corneal opacitis and cataract in a Pollack. 



Dr, K. W. Shufeldt, C.M.Z.S., sent a paper dealing with the 

 Patella in the Phalacrocoracidas. From a study of the patella in 

 a number of species of this family, he had found that in adult 

 individuals that bone was composed of the true patella solidly 

 fused with the proximal portion of the cnemial process of the 



