516 PROF. HOWES A>*U ME. SWLXNEBTOS ON THE TTJATEBA. [May 22, 



ClCHLID.ffi. 



37. HeMICHBOMIS FASCIATUS Ptrs. 



38. Pelmatochbomis jentinki Stdr. 



39. TlLATTA GALIL^EA Gm. 



40. Tilapia lata Gtbr. 



" Known as ' Furu.' Much esteemed as food. Very common, 

 the largest seen being 10 inches in length ; great numbers taken 

 with the seine-net. They are chiefly found in shallow water." 



Pleuronectidje. 



41. Cynoglossus senegalensis Kaup. 



"Native name ' Juso' (heart). Taken from above McCarthy's 

 Island." 



May 22, 1900. 

 Dr. Albert Guntheb, F.K.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



The Secretary announced that Mr. J. S. Budgett, F.Z.S., had left 

 Liverpool on Saturday the 19th inst., on a second expedition to the 

 Gambia, where he was proceeding in order to complete his studies 

 of the Fish-fauna of that Colony, and especially to investigate the 

 life-history and development of the remarkable Fishes Polypterus 

 and Protojyferus. On reaching Bathurst Mr. Budgett would go 

 up the river to his former quarters on McCarthy's Island, in the 

 neighbourhood of which he had already ascertained that these 

 fishes breed during the rainy season. 



A communication was read from Prof. G. B. Howes, F.B.S., and 

 Mr. H. H. Swinnerfon, B.Sc, on the development of ihe skeleton 

 of the Tuatera, Sphenodon (Hatteria) punctatus, which was slated 

 to be the outcome of 18 months' work on material supplied to the 

 authors by Prof. Dendy, of Christchurch, X.Z. An account was 

 given of the egg, the hatching, and the babitsofthe hatcbed young, 

 whicb the authors reared till four months old. Thus a stage (T) 

 was added to Prof. Dendy's series. 



Tbe main conclusions arrived at were stated to be as follows : — 

 Two kinds of inter-centra are formed, of which one persists as 

 the chevrons. The cartilaginous vertebral bodies arise as paired 

 Btructures, and the intra- vertebral plates are chordal in origin. 

 Inter-vertebral plates are formed in tbe tail, and the intra-vertebral 

 plates have a special relation to the " splitting " process : also a 

 series of central chordal vesicles is formed at the points of greatest 

 flexibility. The " uncinates " are mostly separate in origin. The 



