Zoological Society. 449 



worn in hollows and grooves, irregularly united and running in dif- 

 ferent directions, according to little inequalities of the ground ; but 

 on the steep slopes the channels are extended into long furrows, 

 which, meeting at acute angles, enlarge, widen, and descend the 

 hill-side in lines following exactly the declination of the rocks, and 

 stopped only by the few and distant fissures, beyond which other 

 systems of concurrent grooves begin. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



March 22, 1831. Joshua Brookes, Esq. in the Chair. 



The Report on the animals for the importation of which the Coun- 

 cil should be recommended to take measures, was again brought 

 under the consideration of the Committee, and was adopted. 



A Report from Mr. Miller, the Superintendent of the Society's 

 Gardens, was read, explanatory of the circumstances attending the 

 birth of the Armadillos. On the morning of the 1st February it was 

 discovered that the female had made a nest of straw, close up to 

 the pipe that conveys the warm water round the building, and had 

 brought forth two young, which were quite blind, and measured 

 about four inches from the head to the tail. The male was imme- 

 diately removed to another cage, but it was supposed that he had 

 injured one of the young ones on the head before they were disco- 

 vered, of which hurt it died on the following morning. At that time 

 the other young one seemed to be perfectly well, and was sucking; 

 but it also was found dead on the morning of the 3rd of February. It 

 was bitten on several parts of the head by the mother. It is probable 

 that the injuiies were inflicted by her in consequence of her young 

 ones having been moved about j and measures have been adopted to 

 prevent the recurrence of such disturbance on any future occasion. 



The following notes on the Ctenodactylus Massonii, Gray, were 

 read by Mr. Yarrell : 



" The death of two examples of an interesting little animal from 

 Barbary, very similar to the Lemmings in external appearance, has 

 enabled me to place before the Committee some particulars of struc- 

 ture and anatomy which possess considerable novelty. The subjects 

 themselves were presented to the Society by Hanmer Warrington, 

 Esq., British Consul at Tripoli, a Corresponding Member of this So- 

 ciety, and one of its most liberal donors. 



" From two preserved skins of the same species, in the collection 

 at the British Museum, Mr. Gray, in his ' Spicilegia Zoologica,' has 

 lately published an account of this animal, under the name of Cteno- 

 dactylus Massonii. These specimens were received from the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and were considered new to science. There is reason 

 however to believe, as suggested by Mr. Ogilby, that all the four 

 specimens may be considered identical with the Mus Gundi of Roth- 

 man, on whose description is founded the Arctomys Gundi of Gmelin 

 and other writers, and the Gundi Marmot of Pennant's Zoology, 

 vol. ii. p. 137 : Rothman's short description coincides with the animal 

 in question, and he states that his species inhabits Barbary, towards 

 Mount Atlas, near Massufin. 



N. S. Vol. 9. No. 54. June 1831. 3 M " The 



