71 
at a previous meeting he had explained how the thickness of the skin 
deadened the sense of touch. The question of the character of the ear 
was connected with the intensity of the faculty of hearing, and Dr. Fripp 
laid great stress on the fact that the otolith was evidently not an accidental 
production, being always found in one place. The ossicula auditus of air 
breathing animals only served for the transmission of sounds from one 
membrane to another. 
Mr. S. H. Swayne referred to meetings of the Zoological Section, 
where this subject had been discussed, and spoke of the molecular con- 
stitution of otoliths, as somewhat resembling that of certain little bodies 
in the scales of fish. 
The President expressed pleasure at Dr. Fripp's considering that 
this generic or specific character was associated with a sense of high 
physiological importance, and remarked that the molecular differences 
existing among otoliths might be paralleled in the mineral kingdom. 
Mr. A. Smith enquired if Mr. Higgins had investigated the sense of 
smell in fish. 
Mr. Higgins having replied in the negative, 
Dr. H. Fripp said that in many fish it was so developed that they 
hunted by its aid. The sensory apparatus consisted essentially of olfactory 
sacs, through which currents of water were constantly passing. 
The Hon. Secretary announced that at the next general monthly 
meeting, Professor James Buckman, of the Royal Agricultural College, 
Cirencester, would deliver a discourse upon the structure and .economy of 
British Grasses. 
MEETINGS OF SECTIONS. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION. 
Tuesday, October 9th. — Mr. F. V. Jacques in the chair. 
Mr. Groom-Napier exhibited and made some remarks upon a fine 
species of Cicada, captured in Greece. The species exhibited, Cicada 
