Abstract
LONDON. Zoological Society, December 12, 1905.—Mr. Howard Saunders, vice-president, in the chair.—Exhibitions.—Twelve enlarged photographs of whales taken at the finwhaling factories in east Finmarken in 1883–89: A. H. Cocks. The species represented were Megaptera longimana, Balaenoptera sibbaldii, B. musculus, and B. borealis.—The tail-vertebrae of a dormouse of the genus Eliomys, which showed the phenomenon, hitherto unrecorded among Mammalia, of the regeneration of a bony structure in case of accident: Oldfield Thomas. The caudal vertebra, in this case the twelfth, which had been originally broken across, had grown out into a slender styliform appendix 55 mm. in length and rather less than 1 mm. in diameter, the normal vertebrae of this part of the tail measuring about 6×2 mm. On further search two other specimens exhibiting the same structure had been found, and it appeared, therefore, that dormice, like lizards, were ablc partly to regenerate their tails, when these important balancing-organs got accidentally broken.—Microscopic sections of the skeletal tube found in the restored tail of one of the dormice (Graphiurus) exhibited by Mr. Thomas: Dr. W. C. Ridewood. The wall was made up of close-set lamelke, producing in a transverse section a fine concentric striation. Lacunie with numerous branching canaliculi were disposed regularly in relation with the concentric striations, and the general effect was that presented by a transverse section of the humerus or femur of a frog. Internally to the bony layers, and contiguous with the central jelly, was a moderately thick layer, which was clear, homogeneous, and highly refractive. Dr. Ridewood also exhibited, by way of contrast, slides of the skeleton of the restored tail of an iguana lizard, the skeletal tube in this case being composed of calcified fibro-cartilage and not of bone.—Papers.—Observations and experiments on the habits and reactions of crabs bearing sea-anemones in their claws: Prof. J. E. Duerden.—Notes on a large collection of snakes made by Mr. Alan Owston in Japan and the Loo Choo Islands: Captain F. Wall.—A collection of South Australian spiders of the family Lycositke contamed in the museum at Adelaide: H. R. Hogg. Thirteen species were remarked upon, ten of which were described as new.—A collection of mammals obtained by Colonel A. C. Bailward during a shooting trip through Persia and Armenia during the past summer, and presented to the National Museum: Oldfield Thomas. Thirty-one species were enumerated, and special attention was directed to the discovery of Calomyscus, a primitive murine, the only ally of which, amongst recent forms, was the North American Peromyscus.—The colour-variation of the beetle Gonioctena variabilis: L. Doncaster. The material on which the paper was based was colleted almost entirely at Granada, and the author found that, although the insect was extraordinarily variable, when a large collection was examined the beetles could be classified into two chief groups with but few intermediate forms.—Two new species of worms, one a Pontodrilus from the shores of the Red Sea, and the other an Enchytreid of the genus Henlea from India, which was destructive to the eggs of the locust: F. E. Beddard.—Two species of decapod Crustacea, a crab and a prawn, collected by Dr. R. Hanitsch, of Singapore, from a small artificial fresh-water pool on Christmas Island: Dr. J. G. do Man. The interest of their occurrence lies in the fact that previous to the construction of the reservoir, a few years ago, there seems to have been no possible habitat for these animals on the island, and they must have been introduced since that time, perhaps by migration from the sea. The crab was referred to Ptychognathus pusillus, a species described by Heller from the Nicobar Islands forty years ago, and not since found. The prawn was made the type of a new variety of Palaemon lar, both the variety and the typical form having a wide distribution in countries bordering the Indian Ocean.—Results of experiments made in connection with the heredity of webbed feet in pigeons: R. Staples-Browne.—New and rare British Oribatida: C. Warburton and N. D. F. Pearce. Eleven species were remarked upon, of which seven were described as new to science, and two were recorded for the first time as being British. The nymph of Serrarius microcehalus was described for the first time, and it was pointed out that Gustavia sol of Kramer was a nymph of an unknown species of Serrarius.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 73, 261–264 (1906). https://doi.org/10.1038/073261a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/073261a0