231 



before birth. He exhibited two perfectly developed young, 

 which he had taken from the mother on the 30th of Novem- 

 ber last ; in these the spines were each covered at the point 

 with a small knob of cartilage, fastened by straps of the same 

 material, passing down one on each of the three sides of 

 each spine, in such a manner as evidently to become easily 

 detached at birth, thus allowing the little animal to commence 

 life effectively armed. He mentioned that the female in 

 question contained a large number of eggs, in various states 

 of development, in addition to the two fully-formed young ; 

 and he took occasion to remark, that this fish is so destructive 

 to herrings that fishermen look on it with abhorence : in this 

 he thought they were wrong, for he considers that some of 

 the success of fishing with driving nets is to be attributed 

 to the headlong haste with which shoals of herrings go along 

 when pursued by enormous packs of dog-fishes, and that thus 

 they serve man rather than injure him. Fishermen, however, 

 destroy the dog-fish whenever it falls into their power, as they 

 did the specimen which gave occasion to this notice. 



Dr. Allman mentioned an analogous fact in the ova of 

 Cristatella mucedo. 



Rev. N. J. Halpin commenced the reading of a paper on 

 some passages in the life of Shakspere. 



Rev. Dr. Drummond presented to the Museum an ancient 

 Ogham inscription, on the part of Francis W. Jennings, Esq. 



Mr. Robert Mallet presented a drawing of a silver antique 

 ring found in Ireland, and presented to the British Museum 

 by Lord Enniskillen, containing an inscription in characters 

 resembling Chinese. 



DONATIONS." 



Proceedings connected with the magnetical and meteoro- 

 (jical Conference^ held at Cambridge, in June, 1845, Pre- 

 sented by the Association. 



