25 
Mr. E. A. Pr^eger inquired if Dr. Beddoe had used a tape in taking 
the measurements he had described ? If so, he thought they would be 
very liable to error, on account of the stretch' g of the tape and other 
causes. 
Mr. W. L. Carpenter asked if the measurements of the external 
form of the head had been compared with those of the cubical contents ? 
Dr. Hudson inquired what amount of error the stretching of the 
measuring tape would cause 1 Also, if there was as great a difference 
observable in measurements of the skull in individuals of the same race, 
as in those of different races ? 
Mr. H. K. Jordan asked if the size of the head and the weight of the 
brain gave any index of intellectual capacity ? 
Dr. Beddoe, in reply, said that he had used tape in making his 
measurements, but he had found that the errors arising from its stretch- 
ing were very small indeed, and that the other sources of error he had 
pointed out were much more important. With respect to the differences 
in size of the head in individuals of the same race he had found them to 
be quite as great as between individuals of different races. With regard 
to the size of the head and weight of brain being indications of intellectual 
capacity, he believed it to be the rule, but there were many exceptions. 
Mr. Adolph Leipner, the Hon. Secretary, then made the following 
communication on " Proteus anguinus :" — 
Proteus anguinus, two specimens of which have been kindly lent to me by the 
Rev. W". W. Spicer, is a Batrachian belonging to the Division Batrachia Gradien- 
tia, or walking batrachians, of which the common newt is a familar example. It 
is found in various parts of the Austrian dominions. The specimens on the 
table were obtained in the Grotto di Madelina, at Adelsberg, near Trieste. 
They are usually observed either in the water of, or crawling on the margin of, 
a small pond in the centre of the cave. This, however, is evidently not their true 
habitat as they are only found there after heavy rains. It is supposed that their 
natural abode is a large subterranean lake, lying between Adelsberg and Laybach, 
and that they are forced by the rains through the crevices of the rocks, until they 
find an exit in the small pond already mentioned, and in a similar one in a cave 
at Laybach. 
The Proteus differs from nearly all other batrachians in not undergoing a 
metamorphosis, thus retaining its external gills through life in conjunction with 
internal pulmonary sacs. 
For this reason it was long considered a larval form, but its osteology proves 
the contrary. 
The head is flat, and somewhat anguiform ; the eyes are covered by the skin, 
being only marked externally by small dark spots j the gill tufts are two in 
number, one on each side, as in fishes ; the heart in this and other batracia with 
