152 Proceedings of Societies. 
5. Specimens of the Glaucous Gull and Bewick’s Swan were exhibited 
by P. A. Dassavviute, Esq. and J. A. Smita, M.D. 
— 
Wednesday the 27th March.—Tuomas Stretaitt Wrieut, M.D., 
President, in the Chair. 
The following Communications were read :— 
1, Note on the occurrence of Vanessa polychloros and Cheimatobia bore- 
arta in Kdinburghshire. By R. F. Loean, Esq. 
2. Remarks on some Comparative Anatomical Distinctions between the 
Skull of the Manatus Senegalensis and that of a Manatee, from the 
Bay of Honduras. By James M‘Batn, M.D., R.N. 
Having pointed out the anatomical modifications between the two skulls, 
Dr M‘Bain stated that it appeared to have been from the American species 
that Daubenton, Cuvier, Gray, and others, had adopted the dental formula 
of the genus Manatus. In the British Museum Catalogue for 1850, the 
number of grinders in the genus Manatus is said to vary according to the 
age or state of the specimens, but when complete to be M. om = 36. 
Dr M‘Bain said there was no skull of the African species mentioned in 
the Catalogue as existing in the British Museum, and that there was none 
described in the Catalogue of the Royal College of Surgeons of London ; 
and at a meeting of the British Association, held at Cheltenham in 1856, 
Professor Owen stated that he had notthen had an opportunity of examining 
the dentition of the known African Manatee. Dr M‘Bain concluded by 
stating that the difference in the number of the molar teeth in these two dis- 
tinct species corresponded with the difference in the length of the alveolar 
portion of the palate, and with other corresponding modifications which 
had been shown to exist between the two skulls. He was indebted to the 
kindness and liberality of Professor Rogers of Glasgow for an oppor- | 
tunity of comparing the skull of the Manatus australis with that from 
the west coast of Africa; and the result of that anatomical comparison 
11—11 | AA 
itt a 
as the normal number of the dental formula for the genus Manatus, which 
were found to have been present in the skull of the Manatee inhabiting 
the rivers of Old Calabar. 
appeared to him to confirm the necessity for adopting M. 
3. Historical Review of the State of our Knowledge respecting Meta- 3 
morphism in the Mineral Kingdom, with special regard to certain 
recent researches. By Jonn 8. Livinaston, Esq. 
Wednesday the 24th April 1861.—A.rxanprEr Bryson, Esq., President, 
in the Chair. 
The following Communications were read :— 
1. Some statements in Cuvier’s ‘‘ Natural History of Fishes,’”’ as to the 
Herring, shown to be erroneous. By J. M. Mitcuent, Esq. 
