476 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



a specimen of Sabine's Gull in full breeding plumage. I discovered the 

 bird — which was thought to be the Black-headed Gull — mounted in a case 

 along with a Puffin and Guillemot. On making enquiries, the owner, 

 Mr. John Jackson, informed me that it had been procured near the Wolfe 

 Kock Lighthouse in September, 1894. According to Mr. Saunders, in the 

 fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' only two specimens in full 

 summer plumage had occurred in the British Islands at the time of publi- 

 cation. — Archibald Thorburn (88, Fellows Iioad, South Hampstead). 



SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



Linnean Society of London. 



Nov. 19th, 1896.— Mr. A. D. Michael, Vice-President, in the chair. 



Messrs. Johu Farrah and A. H. Pawson were elected Fellows of the 

 Society. 



Dr. D. Morris exhibited from the Royal Gardens, Kew, the inflorescence 

 of Pterisanthes polita, a singular species of the Vine order (Ampelidece), 

 received in 1894 from Mr. H. N. Ridley, of Singapore, and now in flower for 

 the first time in Europe. It is a slender plant, climbing 15 to 20 ft. over trees, 

 native of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and North Borneo. 



Dr. Morris also exhibited dried flower-stems of the Australasian twin- 

 leaved Sundew (Drosera binata, Labill.), received at Kew from the Sheffield 

 Botanic Garden. In this instance the stems were 3 ft. 6 in. high, bearing 

 about thirty to fifty large pure white flowers, nearly one inch across. 



Mr. W. G. Ridewood read a paper on the " Structure and Development 

 of the Hyobranchial Skeleton and Larynx in Xenopus and Pipa." He showed 

 that the hyoglossal foramen in these genera owes its presence to the secondary 

 union of the anterior or hyodean cornua, and that the great wings of the 

 hyobranchial skeleton are secondary extensions of the hyobranchial car- 

 tilage, and not persistent branchial arches of the larva. The hyoidean cornua 

 of Plpa are present in the embryo, but disappear during metamorphosis. 

 Attention was drawn to sexual differences in the larynx, and the same seven 

 muscles were shown to be present in relation with the larynx in the two 

 genera. The thyrohyals and the greater part of the basal plate, which in 

 the adults of Pipa and Xenopus are intimately associated with the larynx 

 proper, were shown to remain free from it until metamorphosis is com- 

 plete ; and it was shown that previously to this the larynx is simple and 

 resembles that of the adult Bombinator or Discoglossus. The conclusions 

 were drawn that Pipa and Xenopus are descended from tongue-bearing 

 ancestors, and that in spite of the anatomical differences between the two 



