BRISTOL NATURALISTS SOCIETY. 
From the Bristol Daily Post of January 11. 
Last Thursday evening this society held its usual monthly 
meeting at the Philosophical Institution. About thirty 
members and friends were present, including several ladies, 
notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather. The usual 
formal business having been transacted, the president, Mr. 
W. Sanders, called upon Dr. Martyn to read the first paper. 
The Author stated that it was simply his intention to 
exhibit two specimens of a foreign species of holothuria 
(sea cucumber) which had been lent him by Major Giberne, 
and to make a few remarks upon them. The specimens 
were dry, and about four inches long, which was the form 
in which they were met with in commerce, under the name of 
trepang, large quantities of which were used in China for 
making soup. Boiled with water this dry mass swelled up 
greatly, the decoction having a slight meaty flavour, and, in 
the concentrated state, slowly gelatinising. The chemical re- 
actions indicated that it consisted mainly of chondrine. 
a substance nearly allied to gelatine. Dr. Martyn 
then briefly explained the position occupied by the 
' holothuridse in the animal kingdom. Though called 
sea-slugs, they were really far below the true slugs 
in organisation, belonging, as they did, to the class 
echinodermata, in the lowest sub-kingdom, radiata. The 
animal consisted mainly of a great digestive sac, covered 
with a tough fibro-cartilaginous skin, in which were inserted 
calcareous plates, which were well known as microscopic 
objects. Projecting from various parts of the body were 
the ambulacra or sucking feet, which, when drawn in, caused 
the warty appearance of a cucumber ; and at one end was a 
set of tentacles, in which alone was the radiate arrangement 
visible. In European seas these animals were neither 
numerous nor brilliantly coloured, but the reverse was the 
case -in tropical seas. Though one species was eaten by 
Neapolitan fishermen, the chief consumers were the Chinese, 
who import it largely from the Indian archipelago, as much 
as 8333 cwt. being annually sent from Macassar, in the 
Celebes, alone, employing 200 boats from January to May. 
The commonest holothuria taken varied from Sin. to 2ft, in 
length, and was usually got by divers, though some of the 
larger kinds were procured by spearing in shallow water. They 
were stated to be usually split down one side, boiled, pressed 
with stones, dried in the sun, and then stowed away in bags. 
De gustibus nan est disputandum ; but looked at philoso- 
phically, this trepang, with its chondrine-yielding gristly 
coat, and muscles in addition, would seem to yield a nutri- 
tive matter, chemically resembling turtle soup, with perhaps 
an addition of beef tea. 
A short discussion ensued, after which 
Mr. Samuel Henry Swaynb read a paper on "The 
Anthropoid Apes," having special reference to the gorilla, 
the skulls of which were exhibited, and which, belonging to 
the museum of the Institution, were the first portions of any 
gorilla brought to Europe. Glancing first at what was pre- 
viously known of these animals, the first mention appeared 
Iq the " Periplus," or voyage of Hanno, a CarthagiHian, who 
