1867.] Biology. 579 



Leguat, who figured the bird some two hundred years since, men- 

 tioned that at the tip of the wing was a hard knob, as big as a 

 musket ball, with which the bird could strike. The bones obtained 

 by Professor Newton completely confirm this account, for a large 

 bony knob is present on the free end of each wing-bone. Professor 

 Newton considers that his new material quite justifies the establish- 

 ment of the genus Pezophaps, proposed by Strickland on the very 

 slender evidence he had at hand a few years since. The Dodo of 

 Reunion yet remains to be investigated, and the French naturalists, 

 it is hoped, will search out its remains. Mr. Busk remarked on 

 the wanton destruction of the Dodo by men, and animadverted on 

 similar destruction of rare animals and birds in our own country. 

 Prof. Newton believed that the Dodo in Rodriguez had been de- 

 stroyed by the herds of pigs which the sailors had left there, — a i'at 

 awkward bird like the Dodo would have but small chance against a 

 hungry boar. 



There was a fair number of papers on the occurrence, &c, of 

 various plants. Mr. Carruthers, of the British Museum, read a 

 paper on " The British Fossil Cycadeae," in which he described some 

 new genera and species, and pointed out the relation of the fossil 

 Cycads to living plants. 



Passing on (as our space compels us to do) we come to papers 

 on Anatomy. 



Dr. Anton Dohrn, of Jena, made a highly interesting communi- 

 cation " On the Morphology of the Arthropoda." He was only 

 able briefly to give the results of some extended researches in 

 which he had been seeking to adopt the Darwinian hypothesis as 

 a basis of classification. He believed that all Crustacea, Insects, 

 Arachnida, &c, could be traced to a single parent form, which they 

 each reproduced at one or other period of development ; this form 

 was identical with the larva of Cirripecles ; and he gave it the name 

 Archizoea. All Arthropods had originally sprung from such a 

 parent; and he endeavoured to show further how the various 

 groups of that sub-kingdom were related in their descent. Classifi- 

 cation means a genealogical tree to the disciple of Darwin ; and the 

 doctrine of " types " to him becomes intelligible. Sir John Lubbock 

 and Mr. Spence Bate discussed certain parts of the paper, at some 

 length. 



Sir John Lubbock read a paper " On Some Points in the 

 Anatomy of the Thysanura." Sir John has been working for some 

 time at the Springtails, on the British forms of which group he is 

 preparing a monograph for the Ray Society. Some of the drawings 

 for this work, very beautifully coloured, were shown. 



Mr. E. Ray Lankester described some new and important points 



