NO. 42.— 1891.] ZOOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 



73 



Mr. A. M. FERGUSON said he felt he was speaking for all 

 present when he said they had listened with extreme interest 

 to Mr. Haly's Paper. They had received a more vivid idea 

 than they had had before of the vapour bath in which they 

 lived. They had illustrations of the effect of the atmosphere 

 by the backs of their books coming off, and the vegetable 

 growth on their boots and shoes. The result of Mr. Haly's 

 great research which he had just given to them would be 

 very valuable to others in preparing and preserving 

 specimens. 



It had struck him, while the Paper was being read, and 

 they were being told about the keeping qualities of birds 

 and butterflies and moths, and other things, that a former 

 Paper by Mr. Haly, though read to them a long time ago, 

 had never been published. It was one that dealt with 

 the snakes of Ceylon* in a very exhaustive way, and was 

 numerously illustrated. He should like to ask what had 

 become of it, as it was a work of great interest and value. 

 He had been reading recently in an article about British 

 Guiana of the process of growth of the rattle-plates as formed 

 in the rattle-snake ; and this also made him feel that 

 Mr. Haly's Paper would be of great use and should be 

 published. Meanwhile they felt very much indebted to him 

 for the Paper they had heard read that night. 



Mr. Haly, in answer to Mr. Ferguson, said that after the 

 previous Paper referred to had been read and had been sent 

 to the Government Printer, it was found that he had not the 

 type necessary to represent some of the signs. These were 

 not algebraical, but such as b\ b 2 . Since that time the 

 Government Printer had sent to England and procured the 

 type required. 



The delay, however, had been useful, because a work had 

 since been published by Dr. Boulenger of the British Museum 

 on the fauna of India, in which much of the nomenclature 

 and naming of the head-sheaths of the snakes had been 

 changed. He would now, therefore, be able to revise his 

 Paper, and bring it up to the most modern conclusions in 

 the matter, which would render it of more value. He was 

 at the present time engaged in doing this ; and the Paper, 

 he believed, would be ready for the Printer in two or three 

 weeks. 



5. Mr. D. W. FERGUSON read the following translation 

 prepared by him of — 



* Essay on the Construction of Zoological Tables, with a Tabular 

 Diagnosis of the Snakes of Ceylon. 



