distinct from the one on the right side, and becomes developed into a well-formed pineal eye. In the lower vertebrate classes the epiphysis is to be recognised as a bilateral and not as a mesial structure, and in addition to this it may be noted that the ancestors of vertebrates probably possessed a pair of parietal eyes (Gaskell and Dendy). 8. Final Report of the Committee on the Migration of Birds. 9. Report of the Committee on the Occupation of a Table at the Zoological Station at Naples.-See Reports, p. 282. 10. Report of the Committee on the Index Animalium. 11. Report of the Committee on the Zoology of the Sandwich Islands, See Reports, p. 305. 12. Fourth Report of the Committee on Coral Reefs of the Indian Region. See Reports, p. 305. 13. Interim Report of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory Committee. 14. Report of the Millport Marine Laboratory Committee. DEPARTMENT OF PHYSIOLOGY. The following Reports were read: 1. Report of the Committee on the Microchemistry of Cells. 2. Report of the Committee on the State of Solution of Proteids. 3. Interim Report of the Committee on the Physiological Effects of Peptone. 4. Interim Report of the Committee on the Functions of Visual Purple on the Retina. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. After the President had delivered his Address (see p. 672), the following Papers were read: 1. The Bionomics of Convoluta roscoffensis, with special reference to its Green Cells. By FREDERICK KEEBLE, M.A., and F. W. GAMBLE, D.Sc. Convoluta is remarkable for its green cells. Geddes showed that these cells assimilate and form a reserve of starch. V. Graff, failing to find any trace of gut or food in Convoluta, concluded that the animal is wholly dependent on the green cells for its food. Geddes' observation that Convoluta dies within two days if kept in darkness is also taken as indicating the same dependence of the animal. Haberlandt investigated the histology of the green cells and discussed their origin without coming to any well-founded conclusions, leaving it uncertain whether the green cells enter the animal from without or arise within it. Our researches deal with the relation between green cell and animal and with the question of the origin of the green cell. We find that Convoluta feeds voraciously, taking up diatoms, algae, spores of various kinds, litmus, indigo, lamp-black, and potato-starch; that Convoluta lives for three weeks in darkness without any especial precautions; and that the store of starch is reduced very slowly, not disappearing until after eight days. From these conclusions it would appear that Convoluta is less completely dependent on the green cell than was supposed. Nevertheless under certain circumstances the animal digests its own green cells. With respect to the origin of the green cells Georgevitch has shown that the larvæ of Convoluta are colourless, and that they die in two days if kept in filtered water. We show that the earliest stage of the green cell is a colourless or almost colourless cell; that colourless larvæ may be kept in filtered water for upwards of a month; and that when sea-water is added infection follows, whereas when maintained with sufficient precautions in filtered sea-water no infection occurs. We conclude that the green cell is an alga, a stage in the life-history of an organism widely distributed in sea-water; that it makes its way into the body of Convoluta, multiplies there, and almost invariably dies with its host. From the characters of the green cell we conclude that it is a hypertrophied zoospore. Questions of considerable interest still remain, as in all cases of symbiosis. For example, the origin of the proteid food material required by both animal and plant; the question as to whether the animal may avail itself of the carbohydrates of the green cell otherwise than by destroying that cell. 2. Note on the Skull of Grampus griseus found on the Coast near Galway. By Professor RICHARD J. ANDERSON, M.D. A grampus of considerable size got stranded on the coast near Galway a few years ago. The carcass was lost, but the skull was found last winter; and as this cetacean is far from common in Ireland, a few points with reference to the structure of this fragment may be noted. The skull is much smaller than that of Globiocephalus melas, and much less massive, and the sockets for the teeth in the upper jaw are small and inconspicuous. It is evident that the sockets have been filling up for years. The number of teeth in Grampus griseus varies from two to six in the lower jaw. They are more numerous in the young mature than in the old, and the upper jaw seems to be edentulous; the teeth are deciduous. A young skull found on the beach, some time ago, which belonged to a small specimen washed ashore, was considered to be that of a Grampus griseus (Rissoanus) by Professor D'Arcy Thompson, in all probability the offspring of the specimen here noted. The length of the animal was probably about 12 feet. This size corresponds to that of Rissoanus. This is borne out by the dental groove, traces of which, as Will appear in the Proc. Roy. Soc. London. well as of three tooth-sockets on one side and four on the other, still persist. The pterygoids touch. The premaxilla show an elongated triangular surface in front of the blow-holes. 3. Note on the Peritoneum in Meles taxus. The peritoneum in a badger examined some time ago presents some points of interest. The vena cava posterior occupies the usual position behind the level of the anterior end of the right kidney. The vein, however, after receiving the right renal becomes separated from the posterior abdominal wall, and with a simple investment of peritoneum goes forward to the liver. So marked was this venous cord that the space between it and the abdominal wall was for a moment mistaken for the foramen of Winslow, which, however, was immediately seen lying to the left. A cord was found on the left side reaching from the kidney to the omentum, and this trabecular band seems to have been generated in a somewhat similar manner to that in which the right one arose. The question arose here whether the foramen of Winslow may not be aided in forming by the growth of the upper part of the liver, which may induce a separation of the vessels included in the omentum. 4. The Skull of Ursus ornatus. By Professor RICHARD J. ANDERSON, M.D. The bear of the Cordilleras, Ursus (?) ornatus, was at one time regarded as an ally of Ursus malayanus. The nasal bones in both genera are short, and whilst the swollen parietal region in malayanus suggests a more elevated position, the greater depth of the skull is equally suggestive of a higher type in Ursus ornatus, The great crest of the skull in the latter type is not unlike a similar structure in Cebus, a monkey which the greater depth of the skull brings the bear to resemble; and it is necessary to prop the skull by a wedge introduced beneath the occipital in order to display the parts to the best advantage, and to make the skull rest on the inferior margin of the lower jaw. In Ursus polaris the skull, it will be remembered, lies flat upon a table. The plane of the nasal apertures meets the alveolar plane at a high angle. The sagittal ridge, which goes directly back, is placed at an angle of 45° to the plane of the anterior nares. The ridge is parallel to the plane passing through the lower border of the mandible. The coronoid process is 4 inches above the level of the angle of the lower jaw, and the angle is inflected. The line joining the summit of the occipital bone with the angle of the lower jaw is nearly parallel to the line joining the inter-premaxillary suture to the nasals. The skull is thus rhomboidal (or rhombohedral) in profile. The summit of the nasals is directly above the first molar. Compared with a Howler monkey the nasal summit was found to be directly above the anterior premolars. The length of the skull is 24 cm., height 14 cm., breadth 16 cm. between the zygomata, and 9 cm. between the most prominent parts of the parietals. The capacity of the cranial cavity in the skull examined is greater than that of Ursus americanus, of Ursus thibetanus (torquatus), and of an adult lioness. It is, however, less than that of Ursus malayanus, and that of polaris with s longer skull. Ornatus seems, therefore, to be a composite type. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. The following Papers were read: : 1. On the Significance of Progamic Nuclear Divisions. 2. Nuclear Changes in the Egg of Alcyonium. 3. The Function of Chromatin in Cell Division (Part I. Heterotype). By Professor MARCUS HARTOG. 4. Discussion on Fertilisation, in which the following took part:Professors HICKSON, FARMER, HARTOG, and Messrs. W. BATESON, M. D. HILL, and J. W. JENKINSON. 5. On the Tentacles of Suctoria. By Professor MARCUS HARTOG.' 6. Demonstration of Slides showing Conjugation in Dendrocometes. By Professor S. J. HICKSON, F.R.S. 7. The Effect of Solutions of Salt and other Substances on the Development of the Frog. By J. W. JENKINSON, M.A. O. Hertwig and others have shown that the course of development of frogs' eggs grown in certain solutions of salt and other substances is abnormal. The abnormalities consist in the formation of a large persistent yolk-plug, due to the failure of the lips of the blastopore to grow over the yolk and in the incomplete closure of the medullary folds. The following investigation was undertaken in the hope of determining whether the effects observed are due entirely, as has been maintained, to the increase in the osmotic pressure or to the change in the chemical composition of the medium as well. The eggs were placed in a solution of 625 per cent. sodium chloride, and in isotonic solutions of cane-sugar, grape-sugar, urea, potassium chloride, and lithium chloride. During the first two days development was sensibly similar in all the eggs, but slower than in the normal controls. Subsequently, however, while the malformations which were produced were in all cases similar in kind they differed greatly in degrce. In urea the blastopore closed at a later period than usual, but in other respects development was fairly normal. The tadpoles died. In cane-sugar and dextrose the blastopore was late in closing, and the medullary groove remained open, in the latter case widely open. In the chlorides of potassium and lithium the yolk remained almost entirely uncovered, and the embryos died almost before the formation of the medullary folds. In sodium chloride they lived longer; the 1 Published in the Archiv für Protistenkunde, Bd. I. 1902, pp. 372-374. medullary folds either remained open, in front only or throughout, or else closed. The yolk-plug was large. It appears, therefore, that other factors besides the increase in osmotic pressure must be taken into account in explaining the phenomena. 8. Some recent Observations on British Reptiles. 1. It has long been a matter of dispute and doubt whether the British adder (Vipera berus) ever took to the water as a matter of ordinary habit. Most ophiologists denied this, or at any rate had not observed it. Years of observation in English counties had failed to bring forward a single case, but the result of some correspondence indicated that in Scotland the habit was not unusual. Investigations and experiment with adders in the Scottish Highlands proved that in that district adders were in the habit of swimming the streams and rivers, a habit which has become incorporated in some of the folklore of the Highlands. 2. Fatal cases of adder-bite are by no means so rare in Great Britain as most people suppose. One was reported last year, and a few weeks ago there was another in South Wales. Both were in young boys. 3. In addition to the very restricted distribution of the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) in Surrey, Hants, and Dorset, it is known that Berkshire was also a habitat twenty years ago. For years, however, no specimen has been seen in that county, and it was supposed to have become locally extinct. During the present summer it has reappeared, one specimen having been taken near Wellington College. Probably this species is more widely distributed than we know of, its close resemblance to the adder causing it to be destroyed without recognition at the hands of those who encounter it. 4. Associated with the smooth snake in its distribution is the sand lizard (Lacerta agilis). This rare lizard is found in the same parts of the counties above mentioned, and is the staple food of the smooth snake. But the sand lizard also occurs in very considerable numbers in the neighbourhood of Southport, and practically nowhere else than the places stated. Here, however, the smooth snake has never been known to occur, and it is curious that this lizard should be so common locally and absent from all other places north of the Thames. 9. Notes on the Coloration of Malayan Reptiles.1 10. Note on the Walking Fish of the Malay Peninsula.1 11. Exhibition of Convergent Series of Malayan Butterflies.' Will appear in the Fasciculi Malayenses. |