458 Zoological Society. 



establishing a scientific correspondence. M. F. Cuvier states that 

 the zoological subjects which possess at the present moment the 

 greatest interest in Paris are those which have been transmitted 

 from Chili, by M. D'Orbigny, who is now engaged in travelling on 

 account of the Jardin des Plantes. M. F. Cuvier has not yet ex- 

 amined them with care ; but he has observed among them a large 

 Rodent animal, which is probably the Patagonian Cavy of Pennant, 

 a species unknown to later zoologists : it forms the type of a new 

 genus allied to Ancema and Kerodon, its teeth having nearly the 

 form of those of the last-mentioned group, and being without distinct 

 roots. He has also remarked a very small species of Ratel, distin- 

 guished from the type of the genus, as it exists in the old continent, 

 by having two false molar teeth less in each jaw : it is also much 

 smaller, its size not exceeding that of the Pole-cat, (Mustela puto- 

 rius, L.) It is remarkable, he adds, that in Chili, the southern 

 extremity of America, a second species should at length be found 

 of a genus hitherto met with only in Africa and in India. " If 

 Buffon had been acquainted with this fact, he would have had a 

 fine example to adduce in favour of his hypothesis of the diminu- 

 tive size of the animals of the New World, as compared with those 

 of the Old." The Jardin des Plantes has recently obtained living 

 individuals of the small Deer of America, named by M. F. Cuvier 

 Cervus campestris ; this will shortly be figured in his < Histoire Na- 

 turelle des Mammiferes.' Two other Deer have been presented to 

 the collection by M. Dussumier, by whom they were brought from 

 Timor : these appear to belong to two new species. From Mada- 

 gascar, M. Goudot has brought a small carnivorous animal, which 

 he states to be the true Vansire. The cranium of a very young 

 specimen agrees closely with that of a very young individual of the 

 Gulo orientalis t Horsf. ; and as these crania in their general struc- 

 ture and their system of dentition differ from those of the genus 

 Gulo, and approach the crania of the Vvverridce, it is probable, M. 

 F. Cuvier remarks, that the Gulo orientalis, and M. Goudot's ani- 

 mal, should both be referred to the family of Civets. 



At the request of the Chairman, the following Notes of the dis- 

 section of the Ruffed Lemur (Lemur Macaco, L.,) were read by Mr. 

 Martin. 



" The Ruffed Lemur which died lately in the Museum was a male, 

 and one of a fine pair recently brought to this country. It exhibit- 

 ed marked symptoms of illness a few days only before its death, 

 but had probably been long diseased. 



On the abdomen being opened, the viscera presented themselves 

 as follows. In the epigastric and hypochondriac regions, stretch- 

 ing from side to side, appeared the liver, and below this the sto- 

 mach, and the omentum loaded with fat, extending to the pubes, and 

 covering the whole of the intestines. On turning aside the omentum 

 and intestines the spleen was observed ; it was large, dark coloured, 

 bound by adhesions to the surface of the kidneys, and studded with 

 numerous small vomica, from which, on cutting, a thick pus oozed 

 out abundantly. 



The 



