89 
of Edinburgh, Session 1872-73. 
2. On the Germ Theory of Putrefaction and other Fermen- 
tative Changes. By Professor Lister. 
The following Gentlemen were elected Fellows of the 
Society 
John G. M'Kendrick, M.D., Assistant to the Professor of Physiology in 
the University of Edinburgh. 
Roeert Wilson, Esq., Engineer, Patricroft, Manchester. 
Monday, 21 st April 1873. 
Professor KELL AND in the Chair. 
The following Communications were read: — 
1. Notice of New Fishes from West Africa 
(I.) Ophiocephalus obscurus, Gunther. 
(II.) Synodontis Bohbianus, nov. spec. mihi. 
By John Alexander Smith, M.D. 
The fishes now exhibited were brought by the Bev. Alexander 
Bobb, D.D., from Old Calabar, West Africa. They were taken in 
the fresh water of the great Old Calabar Biver, near Ikorofiong, 
about a hundred miles or so, by the windings of the river, from the 
bar near its mouth. The Bev. Dr Bobb resides at Ikorofiong, 
which is one of the stations of the Calabar mission of the United 
Presbyterian Church. 
The fishes belong to the great sub-class of the TELEOSTEI. 
I. Ophiocephalus obscurus , Gunther. 
The first to which I would call attention is a small dark- 
coloured fish ; it belongs to the Order of the Acanthopterygij, 
Family Ophiocephalida:, and to the Genus Ophiocephalus. 
Dr Gunther, in his <£ Catalogue of Acanthopterygian Fishes,” 
vol. iii. p. 468, states that the fishes of this family have the body 
elongate , anteriorly sub -cylindrical, and covered with scales of 
moderate size; the head depressed and snake-like, covered with 
shield-like scales superiorly. A. cavity accessory to the gill cavity , 
for the purpose of retaining water in it, a superbranchial organ, not 
