91 
“ An observation of mine, contained in a letter to Sir W. Hooker, 
and which was not meant for publication, has been misunderstood, 
and has led to the propagation of error—for which I am very sorry. 
In it I said the Thylacine’s tail was not compressed —in reference to 
an observation of Mr. Swainson’s in the c Encyclopaedia of Geography’ 
(then recently published), that the tail of the Thylacine was com¬ 
pressed, which suggested the supposition that it was used in swimming, 
&c. It was to the latter part of this observation that my remarks 
were particularly applied (vide Annals of Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. 101-2), 
and I meant that the tail was not compressed to such an extent as to 
have justified the inference that it was useful in swimming ; and thus 
that the animal obtained its food principally from the sea, which the 
paragraph in the ‘ Encyclopaedia of Geography’ implied. The tail is 
obviously slightly compressed, but not, I think, more so than the 
tails of the Dasyures, to which aquatic habits are not attributed. In 
writing hurriedly—and not for publication—I did not express myself 
with the precision I ought to have done. I mainly wished to point 
out that the tail would not justify the inference of Mr. Swainson 
(which I thought very far strained), that the animal was aquatic in 
its habits and piscivorous. Pray set me right whenever you have an 
opportunity. 
“ I beg to remain. Sir, yours very faithfully, 
“ Ronald C. Gunn.” 
“ D. W. Mitchell, Esq., Secretary Zoological Society 
The Secretary then called the attention of the meeting to three 
eggs of the Wedge-tailed Eagle of Australia, Aquila audax, Lath., 
which had been recently laid in the Menagerie (Aves, PI. XIX.), 
and which were probably the only perfect specimens yet known. 
The same female had produced two eggs in the spring of 1849, but 
they were immediately destroyed either by herself or the male, as 
fragments only were discovered by the keeper. 
The following papers were read :— 
1. Descriptions of new Birds. By J. Gould, F.R.S. &c. &c. 
(Aves, PI. XX.) 
It is no less interesting than true, that during the past two years we 
have had accessions in ornithology of no ordinary value ; comprising 
as they do additional species of several anomalous forms, of each of 
which only one was previously known ; for instance, we have a second 
species of the genera Apteryx, Menura, and Ptiloris. On the present 
occasion I have the good fortune to offer to the notice of this Meet¬ 
ing new species of two forms, equal in interest to those above referred 
to, viz. that of Cephalopterus, a form known to all as being American, 
and of which the type is the remarkable species Cephalopterus orna- 
tus, commonly called the Umbrella Bird. The discovery of a second 
species of this form is due to the researches of M. Warzewickz, a 
gentleman who has just returned from Central America, after travel’- 
