Portuguese 31 an-of- War, 249 
VII. Specimens of various Marine Animals^ sent by Dr E. W. Dubuc, 
RN.,/rom Ceylon, Sc., were exhibited by Mr James B. Davtes. 
A small Physalia (Portuguese man-of-war) from tlie shore 
at Kurrachee, Scinde. Specimens of a species of Pinna, both 
dry, and dissected in spirit, from Trincomalee, Ceylon ; two 
species oi Pinnotheres (a small crab), one of which inhabits 
the interior of the shell of Pinna, and the other the Placuna 
placenta, also from Ceylon. 
Specimens of the Trepang, or edible Holotliuria, in spirit, 
and dried, as for the Chinese market. Eegarding these, Dr 
Dubuc supplies the following notes: — " Whilst at Trinco- 
malee, in the summer of last year, in medical charge of the 
hospital hulk Sapphire, my attention was drawn to a species 
of Holothuria, very abundant on the sandy bottom of the 
inner harbour, at a depth of about two or three fathoms. 
The animal is of a yellowish-brown colour, the skin over the 
dorsal aspect being tough and coriaceous. The ventral sur- 
face presents numerous ambulacra, and is of a pale colour, 
and close to the anal orifice there is the retractile branchial 
tuft. At Naples the Holothuria tahulosa is employed as an 
article of diet, and at the Marianne Islands the Holothuria 
guamensis ; whilst the Chinese prefer the Holothuria edulis, 
or Trepang, w^hich is common in the Chinese seas, princi- 
pally at the Anamba Islands, where the Malays fish for it 
with hooks fastened to the ends of long bamboos. They 
are then cut open, eviscerated, dipped in boiling water, and 
dried in the sun. It was with some interest I learned 
that they were prepared in the way mentioned above at 
Trincomalee, for the Chinese market. The natives dive for 
them, as they are not familiar with the use of the dredge." 
Wednesday^ 27th February 1861.— James M*Bain, M.D., RN., Pre- 
sident, in the Chair. 
Thomas Robertson, Esq., Minto Street, was elected a member of the 
Society. 
The following donations to the library were laid on the table, and 
thanks were voted to the donors : — 
1. Description of the Plant which produces the Ordeal Bean of Calabar. 
