ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 665 



Solenodon paradoxus of San Domingo.* — A. H. Yerrill describes 

 the habits and external characters of this rare little mammal, which has 

 for many years been considered extinct. He found that in certain 

 isolated localities the natives were quite familiar with the animal, for 

 which they have various names, such as " Orso " and " Ground Hog," 

 but over the greater part of the republic it was absolutely unknown. 

 He. attributes its extermination to the presence of the mungoose. 

 Solenodon is strictly nocturnal in its habits, awkward and shambling in 

 its movements, and generally slow and stupid. The specimen captured 

 was 14 in. in length, tail 18 in., body and head covered with sparse, 

 coarse hair of a reddish colour on the head, dusky brown on the body. 

 The legs, eyelids, snout and rump are naked, and pinkish-white in colour. 

 The heavy tail is rat-like, the front claws large and mole-like, but much 

 smaller than those of S. cnbanus, and the snout is more flexible than in 

 that form. The specimen was a female, and shortly after capture gave 

 birth to three naked young, which she promptly devoured. She died 

 three days later. 



Families and Genera of Bats.f — G. S. Miller, jun., gives an account 

 of the history, classification, and geographical distribution, with descrip- 

 tions of the various genera. There is also a general account of the 

 anatomy of bats in which certain special parts, e.g. the wing, shoulder- 

 girdle, sternum, and the cusps of the teeth, which have not hitherto 

 been adequately described, but which appear to be of particular taxo- 

 nomic importance, are treated in some detail. The author concludes 

 that at least 173 genera and 36 families and sub-famihes of bats should 

 be recognised. 



Extinct Fruit-Bat. |—G. E. Mason describes a hitherto unrecorded 

 frugivorous bat of the genus Pteropus, of which some remains were 

 found during a survey of the little island of La Ronde, in the 

 Mascarene group. From the bones of introduced animals found asso- 

 ciated with the remains in question, it is evident that this form must 

 have lingered in the island after the advent of man, and probably until 

 a comparatively recent period. The name Pteropus mascarmus is 

 proposed for this interesting species. 



Pteropus mascarinus Mason.§ — K. Anderson points out that this 

 form is exceedingly like the now living species Pt. rodricensis Dobson, 

 and regards it as closely related to, if not identical with that species, the 

 measurements of which he compares in detail with those given for 

 Pt. mascarinus. 



Colour Sense in a Mercat.||— F. Dahl has made a prolonged series 

 of experiments to test the ability of a mercat, Cercojjithecus griseoviridis 

 Desm., to distinguish colours. He found that the animal could 

 distinguish red from green, and white from golden yellow, and dark 

 green from black. It could also recognise the red in orange contrasted 



* Amer. Journ. of Science, clxxiv. (1907) pp. 55-7 (1 fig.). 

 t Smithsouian Inst., U.S. Nat. IMuseum, Bull. 57 (L907) pp. 1-282 (14 pis.). 

 X Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., xx. (1907) pp. 220-2. § Tom. cit., pp. 351-5. 



II Zool. Jahrb., xxv. heft 2 (1907) pp. 329-38. 



