34 



certain plantain-eaters, and the relation of its spectrum to the 

 spectra of haemoglobin and chlorophyll. Some current errors 

 concerning turacin are corrected. 



The Secretary, Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.E..S., gave an 

 account of his observations on the Anatomy of the Shoe-bill 

 (Balceniceps rex), illustrating his remarks with lantern-slides. 

 He showed that Balceniceps and Scopus shared so many anatom- 

 ical characters, and of these so many occurred also in Storks, that 

 if the reasoning generally followed by anatomical ornithologists 

 were adopted, Balceniceps and tScopios mvist be placed with Storks 

 rather than with Herons. He submitted, however, that such a 

 method was irrational, unless it wei'e accompanied by a much 

 closer scrutiny of the value of the characters than had hitherto 

 been made or was yet possible, and that for the present Balce7iice2)s 

 must be regarded as the representative of a division equivalent to 

 Storks and Herons. He thought also that the relation of the 

 Steganopods to these three groups required reconsideration. 



A paper on " Some Miocene Cirripedes of the genera Hexelasma 

 and Scalpellimi from New Zealand," communicated by Dr. W. 

 T. Calman, F.Z.S., was read by Mr. T. H. Withers, F.G.S. 

 _An account is therein given of the ' gigantic Oirripede ' of New 

 Zealand, originally described as Scalpellmn atccklandicum, of 

 which remains have long been known to occur in the Waitemata 

 Beds (Miocene) of Motutapu Island, Auckland Harbour. The 

 valves of this Oirripede attain a length of 8 inches, and have 

 been previously supposed to belong to a pedunculate form, but 

 while Sir James Hector (1887) referred them to the genus 

 ScalpeUu7)i, Prof. W. Blaxland Benliam (1903) thought that they 

 approached more closely to the genus Pollicipes. From a study 

 of the original material collected by Prof. James Park (1887), 

 it is now shown that this Oirripede is a sessile form allied to 

 Balanus, and it is referred to Dr. P. P. C. Hoek's recently 

 instituted genus Hescelasma (1913). A smaller undetermined 

 species of Hexelasma, and a new species of Scalpellmn [sensu lato), 

 are also described. These are in the collection of the Geological 

 Survey, New Zealand, and occur in the same beds as the 

 ' gigantic Oirripede.' 



A second new species of Scalp>elluin is founded on some valves 

 from New Zealand, and a restoration is given, the remains 

 being sufficient to justify their reference to the sub-genus 

 Arcoscalpellum Hoek. 



A paper on " The Olassification and Phylogeny of the Calcareous 

 Sponges, with a Reference List of all the known Species, sys- 

 tematically arranged," was received from Prof. Arthur Dendy, 

 D.Sc, F.R.S., F.Z.S., and Mr. R. W. Harold Row, B.Sc, F.L.S. 

 This memoir aims at a complete revision of the genera of 



