340 Zoological Society. 



grooved in the centre ; molars flat, deeply 3-lobed, tubercles risin g 

 in three distinct lines, middle larger than those of the sides, and the 

 front one extending beyond the two other lobes. 



Length of body and head, 3^ inches ; tail, 1\. 



This rat is found in the black soil of Newera Ellia, and is a great 

 destroyer of peas and potatoes. The only two specimens I had, lived 

 for some days in a cage and played like mice. 



Corsira newera ellia. (Or variety of Corsira nigrescens.) 



Slaty or ashy black, very slightly washed with rufous on the upper 

 parts ; no trace of rufous beneath, which is paler slaty ; whiskers long, 

 very thin, greyish ; legs from half way down the thighs covered with 

 short adpressed hairs ; feet fleshy grey ; hair on the toes longer, and 

 those of the hind-feet extending over the claws ; claws white, those 

 of the front feet elongated, compressed, acute ; toes 5-5, all clawed ; 

 ears large, naked, partially hid in the fur ; tail black, round, tapering, 

 rather scaly, and thinly covered with short hair intermixed with much 

 longer, glossy, shining, thin, stiff hairs, some of which are also seen in 

 the upper parts and sides of the lower half of the body ; teeth white 

 throughout. 



Length of body and head, 3^ inches ; tail, 2\. 



Found in Newera Ellia and even on Pedrotellgala, the highest 

 mountain in Ceylon, which rises from the plains of Newera Ellia, and 

 is 8020 feet above the sea's level. I had one quite docile in a box 

 for some days, which fed ravenously on earth-worms ; it used to run 

 about the table and on my arms without attempting to get away ; it 

 died one frosty night. 



This shrew differs from the Sorex murinus chiefly in the absence 

 of all unpleasant smell. I could not trace any glands or lectse in any 

 part of the body. The elongated fore-claws is another good specific 

 distinction. The Sorex murinus is also found here, and I am inclined 

 to think that a very diminutive shrew, of which I have seen only one 

 specimen, is another species, but which for the present I have con- 

 sidered as only the young of the above-described animal. It re- 

 sembles in every point the Sorex pggtnceus of Hodgson (Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. vol. xv.). There are several characters in our Corsira which 

 make me consider it not identical with the C. nigrescens of Gray, 

 especially the greater length of its tail than in the animal found on 

 the continent of India, which I know only from Mr. Gray's de- 

 scription. 



2. On the blood-coloured exudation from the skin of 

 the Hippopotamus. By John Tomes, F.R.S. 



The exudation is composed of a transparent fluid in which float 

 two kinds of corpuscles ; one kind is tolerably abundant, and is both 

 transparent and colourless ; the other is comparatively rare and of 

 a bright red colour. To the solution of these latter bodies the 

 fluid owes its peculiar colour. 



The colourless corpuscles are spherical in shape, and vary in 

 diameter from the 3450th to the 2100th of an inch; the majority 

 however measure about the 3000th of an inch. Their structure is 



