1866.] NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 29 



From Principal Fourteen species of Echmodermata from 



Dawson, (in exchange Norway. 



for duplicate speci- A series of Tertiary fossils, consisting 



mens brought from of forty-one species from the Eocene and 

 England). Miocene of Paris; of eight species from 



the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene of 



the United States ; and five from the 



English Pliocene. 



Specimen of Dictyoncma Wcbsteri, 



from the Upper Silurian shales of Nova 



Scotia. 

 Mr. Whiteaves said : — In the few remarks which I propose 

 making on these specimens, I shall adopt the ordinary zoological 

 classification. 



A pair of specimens of the Sagouin, Jacclius vulgaris of Geoffroy 

 St. Hilaire, ITapales jacclius of Uliger, were exhibited. They 

 were stated to belong to the order Quadrumana, a group which 

 includes the Baboons, the Apes, the Monkeys generally, and the 

 Lemurs. The Sagouin is one of the American or Platyrhine 

 monkeys, a group peculiar to the New World, and one which is char- 

 acterized by the flatness and broadness of the nose, and the width 

 of its septum, which makes the nostrils appear far apart from each 

 other on each side of the nose. The species in question has re- 

 ceived several popular names. It is the Sagouin or Sangiin of 

 Edwards and of other authors ; the Ouistiti of Buffon and of 

 French naturalists; the striated monkey of Pennant; while by 

 some it is called loosely the Marmoset. It is a small species, not 

 much larger than some squirrels, and is very squirrel like in its 

 habits. It inhabits the forests of Guiana and Brazil, to some 

 extent is omnivorous in its habits, but its favourite food, in a wild 

 Btate, is said to be the banana. It has two tufts of hair round the 

 ears, its tail is long but not prehensile. 



The grey-headed flying-fox, (Ptcropus poliocqylialus) belongs 

 to the order Cheiroptera, which includes the Bats, the Yampyres, 

 &c. The ordinary bats are for the most part insectivorous in their 

 habits, while the flying-foxes, from the blunt tubercular crowns of 

 their molars, were supposed to be essentially frugivorous. All 

 the members of the order, however, are more or less omni- 

 vorous, and it was found that the Pteropus in confinement fed 

 readily on the flesh of birds. They derive their name of flying- 

 foxes from the resemblance of the head to that of a fox. Their 



