Zoological Society. 221 



straight to a height of forty feet. It throws out from the top short 

 branches covered with a very bright green foliage, the leaves being 

 narrow and rounded at the end, five or six inches in length by one 

 broad, and crimped like the frill of a shirt, or rather like the sea- weed 

 called by children on the English coast " the old gentleman's ruffles." 

 The usual girth of the stem is from a foot to eighteen inches. The 

 bark is perfectly smooth and consists of four distinct layers, the 

 outermost of which is very thin ; the two next of a singularly fine 

 texture, resembling oiled letter-paper, perfectly transparent, of a 

 beautiful amber-colour, and used by the Somaulis to write upon ; 

 and the innermost about an inch thick, of a dull reddish hue, tough 

 and not unlike leather, but yielding a strong aromatic perfume. The 

 wood is white and soft. On making a deep incision into the inner 

 rind, the gum exudes profusely, of the colour and consistence of milk, 

 but hardening into a mass by exposure to the air. The young trees 

 produce the best and most valuable gum, the older merely yielding 

 a clear glutinous fluid resembling Copal varnish and exhaling a 

 strong resinous odour. During the S. W. monsoon the pastoral tribes 

 in the neighbourhood of Ras Feeluk collect large quantities of frank- 

 incense, which they barter with the Indian Banyans, of whom a few 

 reside at the villages along the Abyssinian coast. Boats from Ma- 

 culla and from other parts of the Arabian coast also come across du- 

 ring the fine season and carry away the gums that have been accu- 

 mulated, in exchange for a coarse kind of cotton cloth which is worn 

 by the shepherds. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



April 11, 1843. — William Yarrell, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Descriptions of ten new species of Cancellaria, from the collection 

 of Sir Edward Belcher, by Mr. Hinds, were read. 



Cancellaria ventricosa. Cane, testd ovatd, acuminata, albes- 



cente ; anfractihus septenis, ventricosis, subiurbinatis, cancellatis, 



interstitiis quadratis ; aperturd oblongd, prope mediam dilatatd ; 



labio interna expanse ; columelld triplicatd ; umbilico mediocri. 



Axis 15 lin. 



Hab, The west coast of America, between 12° 28' and 24° 38', 



north latitude ; viz. Realejo, in from sixty to seventy fathoms ; San 



Bias ; Gulf of Magdalena, California, in seven fathoms, sandy mud. 



Very similar in its characters to C. Candida, but distinguished from 



it in the absence of the secondary impressed lines which cross and 



interfere with the cancellation. C. Candida is described with only 



two columellar folds, which might be regarded as another source of 



difference, our shell having three very distinct. But I think it will 



be found on close examination that the former has a third incipient 



fold, which, though very small, truly exists. 



Caxcellaria urceolata. Cane, testa ovatd, acuminata, Icevigatd, 

 epidermide fused indutd ; anfraetibus septenis, costatis, superne 

 subangulatis, ultimo subquadrato ; costis parviusculis, rotundatis, 

 lineis elevatis decussatis ; aperturd oblongd in canalem reeurvum 

 effusum desinente ; labro subrecto, intus sttlcato ; labio interna 



