MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. 529 
(3) “New Fishes from the Upper Murrumbidgee District,” by 
William Macleay, F.L.S. Two new species are here described, and two 
others, probably new, are noticed. The new ones are a species of 
Murrayia, from the Murrumbidgee, near Yass, and a very blunt-headed 
species of Oligorus from the same locality. The two alluded to as 
probably new are a species of Gadopsis from the Little River, and a 
Galaxias from Yass River. 
(4) “Ona new Diplocrepis,” by J. Douglas Ogilby, Esq. Mz. 
Ogilby describes, under the name of D¢plocrepis costatus, a species 
differing considerably from D. puniceus of Richardson, and he points out 
that the fish is more nearly allied to the New Zealand genera, 
Diplocrepis and Trachelochismus than to the Australian genus, 
Creprdogaster. 
(5) “Jottings from the Biological Laboratory of Sydney 
University,” by William A. Haswell, M.A., B.Sc. 
‘‘On a destructive parasite infesting the oyster.” Specimens of 
diseased oysters from the Hunter River Beds were found to have their 
shells perforated and destroyed by a small boring annelid—Leucodore 
ciliata—which by burrowing through the substance of the shell, causes 
the disintegration of the valves and the death of the oyster. 
“On some recent Histological Methods and their application to 
the teaching of practical Histology.” 
“‘On the minute structure of Polynoé.” 
Sydney, 29th July, 1885.—Professor W. J. Stephens, M.A., 
¥.G.S., President, in the chair. 
Papers.—(1) “A monograph of the Australian Sponges. Part V. 
The Aulenine,” by R. v, Lendenfeld, Ph.D. Several sponges from various 
localities in the Australian region have been included by the author in 
this new subfamily, the members of which are charactarized by a very 
peculiar structure not met with in any other sponges. The new Sub- 
family Awenine is placed in the Family Spongide, and consists of the 
two new genera Aulena and Halme, with three species in all. The 
anatomy and histology of these is accurately described and illustrated 
by numerous plates. The Aulenine form honeycombed or complicated 
reticulate structures, the cavities form a kind of vestibule and are 
simple in Halme, where an outer lamella surrounds the whole sponge ; 
or subdivided into numerous small compartments, as in Aulena, where 
no outer lamella exists. Into the system of Vestibule-Lacunz both the 
inhalent and exhalent canals of the sponge open. The skeleton of 
Halme is composed of thick main fibres rich in sand, thin, simple and 
clean connecting fibres, and a hard cortex of sand cemented with 
spongiolin. The skeleton of Aulena is very peculiar. It consists of a 
regular network of fine horny threads in the joining points of which 
large sand grains are found. In the membranes of the vestibule- 
lacunz of this genus, nervous elements, sensitive and ganglia cells have 
been discovered by the author. These and many other histological 
details are described in the paper, which dwells also on the morphological 
significance of these interesting new sponges. 
(2) “Ona Sponge Destructive to Oyster Culture in the Clarence 
River,” by R. v. Lendenfeld, Ph.D. In this paper the author 
