522 Miscellaneous, 



slender ; the hind feet very long ; the soles covered with hair ; 

 toes 5 — 4. The tail much longer than the body, covered with 

 rather short hair, and with a dilated brush at the end ; the upper 



cutting teeth grooved in front. Grinders ? 



This genus differs from all those above cited in the tail being 

 elongated and covered with hair, with a pencil at the ends like the 

 Gerboas, and from Saccomys in the soles of the hind feet being hairy. 



DiPODOMYS Phillipii, Gray. 

 Grey-brown, with longer black hairs ; sides sandy ; side of the 

 nose, spot near the base of the ears, band across the thigh and 

 beneath, pure white ; nose, spot at the base of the long black 

 whiskers, and at the base of the tail, black ; tail black- brown, 

 with the band on each of its sides and tip white ; penis ending 

 in a long spine. Length : body and head 5 inches ; tail 6 J 

 inches ; hind feet 1^ inch. 

 Inhab. Mexico, near Real del Monte. John Phillips, Esq. 

 I may here remark, that Bassaris, like the Weasels, has the soles 

 of the feet covered with hair, and appears to be more allied to that 

 genus than to the Gluttons (Gulo). — J. E. Gray. 



ON A NEW EUROPEAN GENUS OF FRESHWATER FISH. BY F. HECKEL*. 



If we cast a view on the numerous new species of freshwater fish 

 with which the ichthyologists of England, Scandinavia, Russia, 

 France, Germany, and especially those of Italy, have of late, after 

 careful comparison, made us acquainted, there needs no great fore- 

 sight to suspect new species also in the western and south-eastern 

 districts of Europe, which, in this respect, may nearly be regarded as 

 terra incognita. But if it had been asserted that there might still 

 occur on land or in fresh water in Europe a remarkable vertebrate 

 animal which had hitherto remained unknown which would deserve 

 to form an absolutely new genus, this assertion would have met with 

 no favourable reception, as much too hazardous, and as a phsenomenon 

 which, after such great progress in Natural History, might have been 

 expected only in distant regions far removed from all cultivation. 

 But that which was so little to be expected is now established as a 

 fact. An ichthyological journey in Dalmatia which I had occasion 

 to undertake towards the close of last summer, in which it was my 

 chief purpose to examine most accurately all the fresh waters of this 

 highly interesting country, afforded me not only several hitherto un- 

 known species, but, to my great joy and astonishment, an animal so 

 remarkable even in a physiological respect, that it fully claims to be 

 regarded as a peculiar and highly characteristic genus. It occurs 

 near the frontiers of Bosnia, and also in Bosnia, pretty frequently, 

 and belongs to the large family of the CyprinidcB. The principal cha- 

 racter by which it is distinguished among the latter, is a fleshy canal 

 which coheres longitudinally with the first ray of the anal fin, and re- 

 presents an external tubular appendix of the anus, by which the anal 



* Translated by Mr. W. Francis from the original, communicated by 

 J. E. Gray, Esq. 



