230 Zoological Society. 



but only recently made known to science, was described as the type 

 of a distinct genus, under its common name, by Mr. Bennett in 

 1829, and by Mr. Gray in August 1830: its true characters seem 

 even now to be unknown to the French authors above referred to, 

 who appear to be acquainted with its skin alone, and never to have 

 examined either its teeth or the number of its toes. In these re- 

 spects it deviates from the characters of their proposed genus; a 

 genus which cannot be adopted, inasmuch as it is composed of 

 heterogeneous materials, and as the two types included in it have 

 both previously been described and designated as distinct groups. 



Specimens were exhibited of the trachete of various Gallinaceous 

 Birds included in the genera Pau-xi, Crax and Penelope of M.Tem- 

 minck $ and Mr. Yarrell observed that these birds have each, as 

 far as they have yet been examined, been found to possess a spe- 

 cific difference in their organs of voice. Among thetrachece placed 

 on the table was that of the Red-knobbed Curassow, Crax Yarrellii, 

 Benn., a new species lately described from the Society's Menagerie, 

 and which had recently died. The trachea of this species differs 

 from all those previously known, but most resembles that of the 

 Crax Alector, L. ; while in external characters the bird approaches 

 the Crax globicera, L., from which it is distinguished by the redness 

 of its cere and by a prominence on each side under the base of the 

 lower jaw, in addition to the globose knob near the base of the 

 upper. The tube in the Crax Yarrellii is straight throughout its 

 whole length, except a short convolution imbedded in cellular 

 membrane placed between the shafts of the os Jurcatorium. The 

 trachea is narrow, and the fold, invested and supported by a mem- 

 branous sheath, gives off one pair of muscles, which are in- 

 serted externally below the apex of the os Jurcatorium. The lower 

 portion of the tube, immediately above the bone of divarication, 

 sends off a pair of muscles to be inserted upon the sternum. The 

 upper pair of muscles (furculo-tracheal) influence the length of the 

 tube above the convolution. The inferior pair (sterno-tracheal) 

 have the same power over the bronchial tubes and that portion of 

 the trachea which is below the convolution. 



Several specimens were laid on the table of a Clupea taken in the 

 mouth of the Thames, which Mr. Yarrell regarded as distinct from 

 the 'common Herri ng of our coasts, the Clupea Harengus, Linn. He 

 dedicated it to Dr. Leach, who, he was informed, has often stated 

 that the British coast possessed a second species of Herring. The 

 Clupea Leachii is much deeper in proportion than the common Her- 

 ring, an adult fish 8 inches long being 1 inch -g-ths deep, while a com- 

 mon Herring of the same depth measures 101 inches in length. The 

 dorsal and abdominal lines of the new species are much more con- 

 vex; the latter is keeled, but has no serration. The under jaw has 

 three or four prominent teeth placed just within the angle formed 

 by the symphysis : the upper maxilla have their edges slightly cre- 

 nated. The eye is large. The scales are smaller than in the other 

 species, and there is no distinct lateral line. The back and sides 

 are deep blue with green reflections, passing into silvery white be- 

 neath. 



