308 Transactions. — Zoology. 



I Lave examined a specimen of a lizard in the Colonial Museum presenting 

 tlie phenomena of two tails nearly of equal size, and it has appeared to me 

 that the possession of a supernumerary tail in this case may be attributed to 

 the class of monstrosities. We know that lizards are developed within the 

 isolated egg, and it is well understood that monstrosities are comparatively 

 common in oviparous animals. 



A question of much interest thus remains still to be solved, viz.. Is the 

 tail reproduced in its entirety, when the whole or even a portion of it is 

 forcibly or accidentally removed 1 In the dead specimen described by me 

 in a previous article^ I found the continuation of the medulla spinalis 

 left the canal without the least disturbance, and when thus drawn out 

 as it were, it presented a series of swellings (ganglia) exactly corresponding 

 to the number of the vertebrae. My theory, therefore, was that any regene- 

 ration of the tail would be mere integumentary reproduction. 



I have shown in the present paper that, when violently detached in the 

 living animal, the medulla spinalis does not leave the canal, but is torn across, 

 the detached portion remaining in the tail. My specimen forming the subject 

 of the present memoir died on the eighth day after the accident, and the 

 eighteenth day after the capture and confinement, but whether from the want 

 of nourishment or the loss of his tail it is impossible to say. 



Art. XXXYII. — Fote on Ctenolabrus knoxi. By F. J. Knox, L.E.C.S.E. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 14:th August, 1872.] 



A FISH captured in Cook Strait, close to Porirua Harbour, and amongst 

 others such as the moki, snapper, etc., was pointed out to me by the salesman as 

 a rare fish, and will be described under the above name by Capt. Hutton (see 

 p. 265). 



General colouration dark brown, passing to dull white on abdominal 

 surface ; head and gill-covers of a dull greenish hue ; pectoral fins colour of 

 dorsal aspect ; pelvic and anal fins colour of abdominal aspect, with a reddish 

 tinge, indicating spawning season. 



Intestines 6 feet in length, of a delicate texture, filled with a green pasty 

 substance, not oily to the touch ; liver greenish brown colour, friable, 

 composed of three irregularly shaped lobes ; gall-bladder not observed ; spleen 

 one inch in length by half an inch, texture firm, of a dark red colour ; 

 generative organs (female) just after spawning, from the large dimensions of 

 the oviducts the spawn or ova must no doubt be very numerous. Food, 

 Diatomacece. Weight, recent, 3 lbs. 7 oz. Total length, 19|^ inches. 



* Trails. N.Z. Inst. Vol. II., p. 20. 



