21 



Often the tail is thin and nearly naked, as in Rats and Mice. 

 These tails are always of use to balance the body ; but in some 

 cases there is a further development ; the end of the tail has a 

 grasping power, and becomes prehensile. Many of the South 

 American animals have these grasping tails, by which they can 

 hang from the branches of trees. Some of the Oposums have an 

 odd habit of carrying their young ones on their backs ; and the 

 little ones twine their tails round their mother's tail to keep them- 

 selves steady. 



In many kinds of Bats the bones of the tail help to support the 

 flying membrane, which extends between the legs. In some other 

 kinds of Bats the tail actually passes through a hole in the mem- 

 brane to the upper side. 



Lastly, some mammals have the tail qaite short and rudimen- 

 tary, so as even to be invisible externally, This happens in many 

 different orders of mammals. Among the Australian marsupials, 

 there is the Wombat ; among rodents, the Guinea-pig ; among 

 hoofed animals, the Peccary. A few of the highest apes, such as 

 the Gorilla and Chimpanzee, are as tailless as Man himself. But 

 even in the human skeleton a tail is clearly to be seen, composed of 

 several vertebrae soldered together to form the bone called the 

 coccyx. In Man, as in all other short-tailed Vertebrates, the tail 

 is much longer, in proportion to the body, at an early stage of 

 development. 



The tail of Vertebrates may therefore be traced through all the 

 different classes, changing wonderfully from the original shape, as 

 a backward prolongation of the body, bordered by a fin, used for 

 swimming in water. But yet all the forms, whatever uses they are 

 put to, whether highly developed or quite rudimentary, may be 

 viewed as directly descended from a swimming organ, like that of 

 the common tadpole 



The paper was illustrated by diagrams showing the development 

 of the tail throughout the various classes of the animal kingdom. 

 A vote of thanks was passed to the writer. 



Mr. Walton exhibited some lichens, and also a specimen of the 

 fruit of Sagas amicarum. 



March 10th. 



The snowfall was so heavy and persistent that the meeting was 

 necessarily postponed. 



