1865. J Zoology and Animal 'Physiology. 335 



African " fluke " epidemic, lie states, as proving the extensive pre- 

 valence of this disease in Egypt, that out of 363 post-mortem examina- 

 tions conducted by Dr. Griesinger, these parasites were found in 117 

 cases, so that one-third of the entire population appears to suffer from 

 their inroads. This parasite has made its appearance in this country, 

 and it would appear that it is as prevalent at the Cape, at Natal, and 

 in the Mauritius, as in Egypt. " In the advanced stages of the 

 malady," Dr. Cobbold observes, " the afflicted individual must fre- 

 quently evacuate the ova and their embryonic larvae, which will do no 

 harm if conveyed into a cesspool, or by a common sewer into the sea. 

 But if scattered broadcast, they will be spread over thousands of acres 

 of ground, placing the larvae on conditions favourable for their next stage 

 of growth, in which stage they will penetrate the bodies of land and 

 water snails ; after which there is every reason to believe that they 

 will experience no greater difficulty in gaining access to our bodies 

 here in England than obtains in the case of those same parasites 

 attacking our fellow-creatures in Africa." And he foretells that in 

 twenty years the parasitic malady would be as prevalent in this 

 country as it is now in some particular sections of the African 

 continent. 



Two distinguished ornaments of our science have been added to 

 the list of the dead during the last few weeks. The one was Dr. 

 Falconer, described as one of the greatest Palaeontologists who ever 

 lived, and whose life, devoted to science, was brought to a close by 

 disease contracted during his long residence in India, the scene of his 

 chief labours. The second was Gratiolet, Professor of Zoology at 

 Paris, whose researches on the comparative anatomy of the nervous 

 system, and structure of the brain, had placed him in the foremost 

 rank of scientific men of the present day. He died of apoplexy, on 

 the 17th February, not having reached his fiftieth year. 



Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 



At each meeting of this Society numerous cominunications are read, 

 extending our acquaintance with the fauna of some distant part of the 

 world, or rendering the knowledge of our own fauna more systematic 

 and precise. As usual, Dr. J. E. Gray has been foremost in his indus- 

 trious accumulation of facts. Papers have been communicated by him 

 on a new speqies of Whalebone Whale (Eschrichtius robustus), foimded 

 on a specimen stranded on the coast of Devonshire in 1861, and por- 

 tions of whose skeleton have been obtained for the British Museum ; 

 also upon another species (of the Bight whale), whose atlas and cervical 

 vertebrae appear to indicate the existence, in the Antarctic Seas, of a 

 new form of this group. The specimen has been named Macleayius 

 australiensis. Another new species of whale has also been described 

 by Dr. II. Burmeister, founded upon a skeleton in the Museum of 

 Buenos Ayres, and called by its describcr Balcenoptera patachonica. 



