Miscellaneous. 77' 



pierce wood. Of late years naturalists have observed felspathic 

 rocks burrowed by Mollusca. M. Caillaud of Nantes sent to the 

 Academy specimens of granite from Pouliguen in the Bay of 

 Croisic, perforated by Pholades. The striae traced in the holes, 

 corresponding with the spiny ribs of the shell of these rnollusks, 

 furnished an evident proof that the rock had been abraded by the 

 movement communicated by the animal to the shell. Granite altered 

 by sea-water is more readily attacked. 



More recently M. Eugene Robert exhibited to the Academy a 

 block of old red sandstone, obtained from the shore of the great 

 Bay of Douarnenez, which was perforated with numerous holes evi- 

 dently formed by the Echini which were lodged in them. Each 

 rounded cavity is in exact proportion, both as to size and form, with 

 the body of the Echinoderm. 



M. Lory, Professor at Grenoble, and well known for his numerous 

 and excellent works on geology, has begged me to exhibit several 

 specimens of perforating Echini, which have taken up their abode 

 in the granite of the Bay of Croisic, not far from Piriac. It is the 

 same granite as that from the Pouliguen, and in the same state of 

 alteration. This primitive rock is there perforated by Mollusca 

 and Echinodermata for an extent of several kilometers. Those 

 which M. Lory has just discovered are certainly of the same species 

 as the Echini which burrow in the old red sandstone of the Bay of 

 Douarnenez. They closely resemble the Mediterranean Echinus, 

 mentioned by Lamarck under the name of Echinus lividus. It is 

 one of the most abundant Echini on the coast, and in the market of 

 Marseilles, whence Lamarck obtained his specimens. I have never 

 heard that these individuals possessed perforating habits, and pro- 

 bably a careful examination of living specimens of the Echinus from 

 the coast of Brittany may show that it belongs to a distinct species, 

 notwithstanding its apparent identity with that of the Mediterra- 

 nean. In this case it might be called Echinus terebrans. — Comptes 

 Rendiis, Nov. 5, 1855, p. 755. 



NEW SPECIES OF MAMMALS AND BIRDS. 



The well-known naturalist Eversmann has recently published a very 

 interesting paper*, containing an account of some of the most recent 

 additions to the Mammalogy and Ornithology of the Russian Empire. 

 The species described are — 



1. Vesperugo Krascheninikovii, n. sp. 



r. dentes primores superiores duo interni bifidi, extern! simpliccs 

 minuti : auriculae capite breviores, latce, rotundato-subtriangulares, 

 trago reniformi, dimidiam aurem non attingente : vellus nigrum, 

 pilorum apicibus canis. 



A new species of Bat, belonging to the section of the genus Ves- 

 perugo with 34 teeth — 5 molars in both jaws on each side ; — ^it is 



* Noch ein kleiner Beitrag zur Mammalogie und Omithologie des Rus- 

 sischen Reiches, von Dr. Eduard Eversmann ; Bull, de la Societe Imperiale 

 des Naturalistes de Moscou, 1853, uo. iv. p. 487. 



