

SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 197 



fact that they appeared to be more nearly related to the Madagascar species 

 than to any of the numerous forms now known from continental Africa. 



Mr. Walter E. Collinge read a paper on " The Sensory Canal System 

 of Fishes," treating of the morphology and innervation of the system in 

 the Physostomous Teleostei. Descriptions were given of eight species 

 referable to seven genera in the families Silurid®, Esocidce, Salmonida, 

 and Mumnidce. 



Dr. St. George Mivart read a paper descriptive of the skeleton in Lorius 

 flavopalliatus, comparing it with that of Psittacus erithacus, and pointed out 

 a number of differences in detail. 



Mr. G. A. Boulenger made remarks on some cranial characters of the 

 Salmonoid Fishes, and expressed the opinion that there was no justification 

 for separating Coregonus and Thymallus from the SalmonidcB as had been 

 proposed by Messrs. Cope and Gill. 



Prof. T. W. Bridge read a paper in which he pointed out certain features 

 in the skull of Osteoglossum, and directed special attention to the existence 

 of a peculiar oral masticatory mechanism in Osteoglossum formosum, distinct 

 from that furnished by the upper and lower jaws and their teeth. The 

 existence of an essentially similar mechanism in the Ganoid Lepidosteus 

 osseus was also described, and the conclusion was suggested that the two 

 genera offer in this respect an interesting example of parallelism in 

 evolution. 



Entomological Society of London. 



April 3rd. — Professor Raphael Meldola, F.R.S., President, in the 

 chair. 



Mr. C. J. Gahan exhibited two examples, male and female, of a rare 

 Prioned beetle, Chariea cyanea, Serville, which had been kindly sent to 

 him for examination by Mons. Rene Oberthur, and stated that Lacordaire 

 was mistaken with regard to the sex of the specimen which he described in 

 the * Genera des Coleopteres.' He pointed out that the elytra of the male 

 were relatively much shorter than those of the female, and that the joints 

 of the antennas from the third to the tenth were biramose. Mr. Gahan 

 also exhibited two species of the genus Decarthria, Hope, and said he 

 believed these were the two smallest species of Longicorns known. 



Dr. Sharp exhibited the soldiers and workers of a species of Termites 

 found by Dr. Haviland in South Africa. He stated that these insects 

 possessed eyes and worked in daylight like hymenopterous ants, and that 

 in habits they resembled harvesting ants by cutting grass and carrying it 

 into holes in the ground. Dr. Sharp said that although these holes were 

 probably the entrance to the nests, Dr. Haviland was unable to find the 

 actual nest, even by prolonged digging ; so that the winged forms were 

 still unknown. He thought this species was probably allied to Termes 



