1 so Zoological Society, 



singularly deficient in organic remains 3 and by stating that he is of 

 opinion that their absence may be accounted for by the conglomerate 

 indicating a period of turbulence and agitation. He then alludes 

 to the recent discovery of bones in this deposit on Durdham Down, 

 and to Dr. Riley and Mr. Stuchbury's having determined that they 

 belong to Saurians. These bones, he says, are angular as w^eli as 

 the associated fragments of mountain limestone, and are so inti- 

 mately incorporated with the latter as to constitute a bone-breccia. 

 He says he has ascertained that the remains belong to at least 

 three animals, varying in their proportions from the Dracaena of 

 Lac^pede to the lesser varieties of Monitors and Safeguards. He 

 afterwards describes a fragment of a small jaw found by himself, 

 which exhibits six distinct alveoli separated by bony partitions. One 

 of the alveoli contains a young tooth, which had cut its way to the 

 summit of the jaw. It is hollow from the base to the apex, and 

 consists of a very thin plate of ivory coated by a thinner sheathing 

 of enamel. The form is triangular, the point keen, the body swells 

 out, and the margin on each side is regularly crenated from the 

 apex downwards. From these characters the author conceives that 

 the animal to which the jaw belonged, may have formed a link be- 

 tween the crocodiles and the lizards proper. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



August 26. — An extensive series was exhibited of skins of Mam- 

 malia, collected in Nepal by B. H. Hodgson, Esq., Corr. Memb. 

 Z. S., and presented by that gentleman to the Society. It included 

 twenty-two species, several of which were first made known to sci- 

 ence by the exertions of Mr. Hodgson, while others still remain to 

 be described by him. 



A paper " On the Mammalia of Nepal," written by Mr. Hodgson, 

 has been read before the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, and has been 

 published in the ' Journal ' of that Society : but Mr. Hodgson has 

 availed himself of the opportunities which have occurred to him since 

 it was written, to make various additions and corrections in the 

 copy transmitted by him to the Society, portions of which have been 

 read at several previous meetings. 



Mr. Hodgson's paper commences by an account of the physical 

 characters of Nepal, which are so varied, according to the elevation 

 of the several districts, as to render it necessary, when treating on 

 its natural productions, to divide it into three regions. The lower 

 region consists of the Tarai or marshes, the Bhawar or forest, and 

 the lower hills, and has the climate of the plains of Hindoostan, 

 with some increase of heat and great excess of moisture. The cen- 

 tral region includes a clusterous succession of mountains, varying in 

 elevation from 3000 to 10,000 feet, and having a temperature of from 

 10° to 20° lower than that of the plains. The juxta- Himalayan re- 

 gion, or Kachar, consists of high mountains, the summits of which 

 are buried for half the year in snow : the climate has nothing tro- 

 pical about it, except the succession of the seasons. 



