Zoological Society. 369 with a clue to the position of any species of genera previously unknown on our coasts which may reward his researches. The characters of the families and genera are given in analytical tables, and afterwards in a more detailed form. The generic descriptions in those cases where the genus contains several species are followed by analytical tables of the species, and we then come to the carefully drawn-up specific descriptions, which are preceded by short characters and by a very full synonymy. The varieties of the different species are also described in considerable detail, and this descriptive portion is followed in each case by an account of the habits and natural history of the species, and a list of the localities in which it has been met with. As there are few, if any, of our British naturalists who have had the same opportunities as Mr. Gosse of studying the Sea-Anemones in their native haunts, or who possess the power of de-scribing their observations in the same lucid and interesting style, this portion of the work is most attractive and valuable. The species described in the four Parts before us all belong to Mr. Gosse' s family Sagartiadce, to which we observe he now refers the genus Capnea, placed by him amongst the Caryophyllacea, in his Synopsis lately published in this Journal. They include the genera Actinoloba {A. dianthus), Sagartia, with fifteen species (five or six imperfectly known species being deferred to an Appendix), and Adamsia. The plates illustrating the work are, like most of Mr. Gosse' s, beautifully executed ; they represent the various species and many of their varieties, adhering, in different states of expansion and con-traction, to the walls of their rocky home, from which the bright colours of their delicate crowns of tentacles stand out in fine contrast. Each plate contains on an average about nine figures ; and their beauty, coupled with the intrinsic value and interesting nature of the work, must render it equally acceptable as an ornament to the drawing-room table and as a handbook for the scientific naturalist. PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. April 13, 1858.— Dr. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. Description of a New Genus of Sponge (Xenospongia) from Torres Strait. By Dr. John Edward Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., Pres. Ent. Soc. etc. The Sponge here described was received from Torres Strait with some very interesting Madrepores and Polyzoa. It is peculiar from its being free like the Fungice among the Ma-drepores, but more concave beneath, from its having the upper oscules placed in the diverging forked groove of the upper surface, and from its having the whole of the under surface covered with a thick coat
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