M. Prcvost on a ^ew Gyrogonite.. 63 



gonitc, larger than that which forms the j)iuu'i|)al object ot the 

 present notice. If, to all these indications, there Ikj added the 

 description of tubercular gi/rogonite^ discovered by Mr Charles 

 Lyell in the Isle of Wight, it will be seen that the genus of 

 fossil Chara is an object of much interest to the botanist and 

 geologist. There remain, without doubt, many fossil species 

 to be discovered, but it is of importance that the gyrOgonites 

 receive specific names only after a preliminary examination of 

 the Chara, at present existing, may have fixed the limit of the 

 possible differences in the capsules of the same plant, and deter- 

 mined the value of the parts which are capable of furnishing 

 distinctive characters. This philosophical object cannot be bet- 

 ter attained than by the naturalist who first discovered the ex- 

 istence of fossil Charae ; and the circumstance, that M. Leman 

 is at present occupied with a work on the subject, prevents the 

 author of this notice from bestowing a new name upon the gy- 

 rogonite which he imagines he was the first to observe. 



Notice regarding Fossil Remains ^ound in Ava. 



T] 



HE Calcutta Government Gazette contains the following 

 account of the fossil remains brought to Calcutta, on account of 

 Government, from the Burmese Empire, by the late mission to 

 Ava. 



" Of the fossil bones, the most numerous and remarkable are 

 those of an animal about the size of a large elephant, stated to be 

 the bones of the mammoth. This is a mistake. The mammoth 

 is an extinct species of the elephant, differing from the two living 

 species, the African and Indian. The remains of this animal 

 have only been found in Europe, and chiefly in Siberia. The 

 Burman fossil bones are unquestionably those of the mastodon, 

 as may be clearly seen, by comparing, as I have done, the grind- 

 ers with those of the Indian elephant, as well as the accurate de- 

 scriptions and representations of both in the work of Cuvier. In 

 the different species of elephants, the crown of the moiares, or 

 grinders, is marked by superficial transverse bands. In the 

 mastodon, the form is widely different, the crown being marked 



