PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
21 
incurved point, and armed with a minute tooth of the inner edge, a little way- 
before the end. The maxillae are also long, and the shaft and lobe of nearly 
equal length, so that the palpus is inserted rather before the middle ; it is 
shorter than the lobe, three-jointed, the first joint, largest clavate, the second 
shortest, the third tapering to a point. The inner edge of the lobe is armed 
with a bristle, beyond the middle, and very delicately ciliated from this to the 
end. The labrum, nearly as long as the maxillae, has the oblong mentum a lit¬ 
tle contracted towards the base, the slender ligula tapering to a point, from the 
sides of which, about the middle, arise two short processes, as the scapes of the 
palpi, which consist of two joints more, the last pointed; no paraglossae. The 
prothorax is larger than the following thoracic segments, and these somewhat 
longer than the abdominal. The legs are rather long, the hind pair fully one- 
fourth of the length of the body, the coxa broad, about two-thirds the length 
of the femur; the trochanter exerted, the femur and tibia clavate, and about 
equal in length, but the latter more slender, and the fore tibia has, before the 
tip outside, a slender spine, distinguished from the finer scattered hairs; the 
tarsus not half as long as the tibia, three-jointed, the last joint a pointed claw, 
and the articulations marked by the insertion of hairs. 
The figure, being made from a specimen long kept in spirits, shows the form 
too slender. 
The meeting then separated to the 21st December next. 
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1856. 
A. H. Haliday, A.M., V.P., in the chair. 
The following donations to the library were acknowledged :—“ Natural History 
Review,” vol. ii., from the Editors; “Monograph on the British Phalangidae,’’ by R. 
H. Meade, Esq., from the author; “ On the Dying Properties of Lichens,’’ by Wm. 
Lyndsay, Esq., from E. Percival Wright, Esq. 
A vote of thanks having been passed to the donors, Dr. Lamprey read the fol¬ 
lowing paper— 
ON THE OVA OF HYLUS. 
On looking over the printed transactions of this Association I find a letter I 
addressed to my brother, then your secretary, dated Kandy, 9th October, 1854, of 
■which the following is an extract:— 
“ I will endeavour to send you a variety of the ova, which I found attached to 
the walls of a garden well; but the animal producing it is aquatic, and the sub¬ 
stance, though four times the size, is slimy, and, I fear, too bulky to send by post. 
I found masses on the leaves and stems of the trees overhanging the water, as well 
as on the wall of the well. I have sent my boy out for a specimen. The variety 
I first described is not very common, and but occasionally met with.” 
Having, since that letter was written, in searching after the origin of the substance 
alluded to, ascertained some important facts in the natural history of frogs, I take 
this opportunity of referring to my former communication. Being anxious to as¬ 
certain all about this substance, I went to the well, situated in the governor’s garden 
at Kandy, where I found my first specimen, and carefully examined the portion of 
the numerous other masses that still remained. I noticed that on the inner side of 
the wall of the well there were several much larger masses, some of which touched 
the water, but all of them were of a soft, slimy consistency, and of an opaque white 
and green colour. On looking at the branches and leaves of the two trees that 
overshadowed the well—a mango and kino tree—I was much struck by observing the 
great quantity of masses of this substance situated high up on the leaves and bran¬ 
ches, and observed that all were placed in such a position with reference to the well, 
that if they fell they would all fall into the water. Having secured one of these 
masses attached to the side of the well, I opened it, and .found it to contain a large 
quantity of the ova of some animal. They were small, whitish, globular bodies, 
having a central germinal spot of a dark colour, and were about the size of a duck 
shot. I also noticed the larva of the common Muscidae. H aving selected a small 
compact specimen attached to the stem of the kino tree, I brought it home and 
F 
