Miscellaneous. 237 



The system is most singular. The male continued copulating nearly- 

 one hour, but I could not observe that they locked like dogs, and 

 they did not turn as the latter animals do. The time of gestation 

 has been twelve weeks from the first act of copulation ; four cubs 

 were produced, which continued blind for nine days." — J. J. Isaac- 

 son, Liverpool Zoological Gardens. 



on a representative of the order of insectivorous mammalia 

 belonging to new holland. by m. gervais. 

 The animal which is the subject of this note has been recently 

 described in England under the name of Myrmecobius fasciatus by 

 Mr. Waterhouse, who considers it as belonging to the class of the 

 Didelphides, at the same time noticing the points of resemblance be- 

 tween it and certain Insectivora, and principally with the Tupaia or 

 Cladobatce. M. Gervais, insisting on these resemblances, remarks, 

 that, comparing the osseous head of the Myrmecobius with that of 

 the Didelphides, we find in the existence of two palatin holes (instead 

 of four as in this group of animals), in the arrangement of the as- 

 cending branch of the lower jaw, &c, differences which would rather 

 induce us to refer this new genus to the monodelphial mammifera 

 than to the didelphial. — Compte Rendu, No. 14, Oct. 1838. 



CAOUTCHOUC IN PLANTS*. 



The substance caoutchouc is a widely disseminated constituent of 

 vegetable fluids. It has hitherto, I believe, been found only in plants 

 with milky juice, although its presence in all plants yielding such 

 fluid remains to be proved. The presence of caoutchouc in silk has 

 been, I believe, attributed to the nature of the fluids of the plants 

 on which the caterpillars feed ; but this, although applicable to the 

 mulberry plants, can scarcely hold good with the various species of 

 Tetranthera on which the Moonga feeds, or with the castor-oil plant, 

 the chief food of the Eria, which in Assam does not appear to yield 

 milk. Milky juice is often characteristic of certain families, but 

 often not ; its presence is frequently of importance, as it often af- 

 fords valuable indications of affinity. It is remarkable that it is al- 

 most unknown in the grand division of Monocotyledonous plants. 

 The families in which its presence may be said to be universal are 

 Apocquea, Asclepiadea, Campanulacea, Sobeliacea and the great divi- 

 sion of Composite, Chicoracea, of which the lettuce is a familiar ex- 

 ample. It is of common occurrence in Euphorbiacea and Tulicea, 

 which orders may be looked on as the grand sources of caoutchouc. 



* From Mr. Wm. Griffith's Report. Journ. of the Asiatic Soc. of Bengal. 



