6 



(2) That in the fully formed ju'incipal cotyledons of both Cow 



and Bheep there is complete continuity of the intra- with 

 the exti^a-cotyledonary uterine epithelium. 



(3) That the greenish-brown pigment so abundantly present 



in the trophoblast-cells is a derivative of the hemoglobin 

 of the maternal corpuscles which those cells have ingested. 



The pigment — which contains no iron — is of two kinds, one of 

 which has a definite absorption-spectrum resembling closely that 

 of oxyha?moglobin. In acid solution the spectrum approaches 

 that of acid hfematoj^oi'phyiin. 



8ir Edmuxd Loder, Bt., F.Z.S., exhibited a living specimen of 

 a dwarf species of Cavy, pi'obably the Salt-Mai'sh Cavy [Dolichotis 

 salinicola), and remai'ked that, owing to Burmeister (the original 

 describer of the animal) being under the erroneous impression 

 that he had founded the species on young specimens and the fact 

 that two distinct species occurred in the same district, some 

 considerable confusion had been caused as to the status of the 

 diSerent forms of Dolichotis. He pointed out that the common 

 Patagonian Cavy {D. patagoniciis) diflered from the dwarf 

 D. scdinicola and the lai'ger D. onaf/ellanicus centricola (the two 

 species found together) in having a broad dark band above the 

 white lump-patch. 



A communication from Mr. E. S. Russell contained a descrip- 

 tion of Trichorhiza, a new Hydroid genus, of which the diagnosis 

 was as follows : — " Hydranth solitary, attached loosely by the 

 hydroi-hiza, which was filiform and branched. Invested by 

 pei'isarc, which formed a protective cup into which the hydi'anth 

 was partly retractile." The genus had been founded for a single 

 species, T. brunnea, the type specimen of which was discovered 

 clinging to the tentacles of a Conjmotpha dredged in the Clyde. 

 Reproduction in T. hrunnea was by medusaj. Trichorhiza 

 belonged to the family Pennaridce. 



Miss Gertrude Ricardo communicated a description of the 

 new genus Melissomorpha, formed for the reception of a Horse-fly 

 of the Pangonince division of the family TahanicUe, discovered 

 by Col. C. T. Bingham in Sikkim. The insect closely mimicked 

 the Indian bee Ajyis dorsata L,, having the flattened wide tibife 

 characteristic of the hive-bee, the general resemblance between 

 the bee and the fly being very striking. 



Mr. Harold Schavann, F.Z.S., read a paper on the Mammals 

 collected at Kuruman and Molopo in Bechuanaland by Messrs. R, 

 B. Woosnam and R. E. Dent. The specimens, numbering about 

 120 and belonging to 26 species, were of great interest as being 

 topotypes of several species desci-ibed by Sir Andrew Smith in his 

 expedition to Kuruman and the interior of South Africa. 



