108 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



others belonging to the Smithsonian Institution, kindly sent me by Prof. 

 Baird for examination ; three have their bills 1 1-16 in. in length all have 

 the bright chestnut coloring above and are conspicuously spotted below, with 

 the legs uniformly deep black. Those killed even towards the end of July 

 retain the chestnut color above and the spots on the under plumage, whereas 

 at that time E. pusillus has scarcely any rufous coloring above, and is below 

 entirely destitute of spots, with a wash of a light tawny color on the upper 

 part of the breast. 



Mr. E. Coues suspected probably that more than one species existed in 

 North America, for in his able Monograph of the Tringse, published in the 

 Proc. of the Phil. Acad, of Sci., 1861, p. 177, in a note under E. pusilhis, he 

 says, " I am by no means satisfied that but a single species of Ereuneles exists 

 in N. A. The difference in size, in length and proportions of the tarsus 

 even, and especially in the bill, cause it to seem almost impossible that all 

 the specimens before me are specifically the same," &cl* 



He however made no positive determination of there being more than one 

 species. See his remarks in the note referred to above. 



I have had specimens of the so-called E. manri sent me from Cuba by Dr. 

 Gundlach for examination, and have found it to agree precisely with examples 

 of pusillus from the Atlantic coast. 



Descriptions of six New Species of UNIONID2E from Lake Nyassa, 



Central Africa, &c. 



BY ISAAC LEA. 



The specimens herein described are of unusual interest. They are the first 

 which I have seen from Central Africa, and I am greatly indebted for them to 

 the liberality of John Kirk, M. D., of Edinburgh, who accompanied the Zam- 

 bezi Expedition, under the British Government, as Medical Officer and Botanist. 

 There ar* six in number, all of which I believe to be undescribed. The three 

 Spathse have the peculiar African type, and probably were furnished with sy- 

 phons. In one of the species we have, for the first time, an alute type. The 

 three Uniones differ from any type I have heretofore seen from Africa, and they 

 take more of that of India in the subtriangular form Rajahensis, (nobis,) for 

 instance and in the subplicate character of some of our southern species in- 

 clining to nodulous. It is greatly to be regretted that none of the soft parts 

 were preserved, that we might compare their anatomy with those from Ame- 

 rica. Lake Nyassa is one of the three great central lakes of Africa, and has a 

 southern drainage in the Zambezi River. It is, in extent, as Dr. Kirk informs 

 me by letter, " exceeding two hundred miles north and south, and from fifteen 

 to sixty miles wide, and is fifteen hundred feet above the sea. It lies between 

 the parallels of 14 and 18 south latitude. 



Unio Kirkii. Testa plicata, triangulari, subinflata, ad latere planulata, in- 

 a?quilaterali, antice rotundata, postice angulata; valvulis crassis, antice cras- 

 sioribus; natibus valde prominentibus, solidis, ad apices undulatis ; epidermide 

 viridi, radiis capillaris induta ; dentibus cardinalibus crassis, sulcatis ; laterali- 

 bus subrectis, curtis, crassis, in valvulo sinistro tripartitibus ; margarita ar- 

 gentea et iridescente. 



Hab. Lake Nyassa, Central Africa. John Kirk, M. D., of the Zambezi Ex- 

 pedition. 



Unio Nyassaensis. Testa plicata, triangulari, subinflata, ad latere planulata, 

 inaequilaterali, antice rotundata, postice angulata, ; valvulis subcrassis, antice 

 crassioribus; natibus prominentibus, solidis, ad apices undulatis; epidermide 

 luteo-cornea, obsolete radiata ; dentibus cardinalibus parviusculis, sulcatis ; 

 lateralibus subrectis, curtis, crassis, in utroque valvulo duplicibus ; margarita 

 salmonis colore tiucta et iridescente. 



[April, 



