30 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb. 



jaws are more elongated than are those of the bats and vampyres. 

 Probably the idea of the harpy was derived from animals of this 

 order, and it has been thought likely by some writers that the 

 bat of the Bible was a species of Pteropus. 



The Malabar squirrel (Sciurus Maximus) is a true squirrel and 

 belongs to the genus Sciurus as restricted by modern zoological 

 writers. It inhabits the Malabar coast, and is chiefly remarkable 

 for the peculiar colouring of its fur. It is said to prefer living 

 among palm trees, and to be very fond of the milky juice of the 

 cocoa-nut, as well as of the more solid part of the fruit. 



A cast of the skull of the Dodo was exhibited, taken from the 

 specimen in the Oxford University Museum. The species, of 

 which only a few fragments of the skeleton, &c, are preserved, 

 formerly inhabited the Mauritius, and is supposed to have been 

 extinct for about 200 years. Considerable discussion has taken 

 place amongst naturalists as to its supposed affinities ; some have 

 thought that it should be classed in the order Raptores, and placed 

 near the Vultures ; others again have regarded it as belonging to 

 the group Cursores, on account of the rudimentary character of 

 its wings. Messrs. Strickland and Melville, in a comparatively 

 recent treatise on this bird, have placed it among the pigeons, and 

 consider that its nearest living ally is the Didunculus of the Navi- 

 gator's Islands, a bird which, however, can fly tolerably well. Bones 

 of three other species of large wingless birds from the Island of 

 Rodriguez, an island east of those of Bourbon and of the Mauri- 

 tius, are in the possession of the Zoological Society of London. 

 As these last three birds, and the Dodo, could hardly pass from 

 one island to another, being provided with rudimentary wings 

 only, it has been supposed by some naturalists, that the islands of 

 Bourbon, of the Mauritius, and of Rodriguez, at one time formed 

 part of a great continent, which is now submerged beneath the 

 waves of the Indian Ocean. 



Two letters were read from Mr. G. A. Rowell, the Assistant 

 Curator of the Oxford University Museum, in which a contribution 

 of skins of mammals and birds was promised by the professors of 

 geology and zoology, in the spring of 1866. 



Several species of South Australian Molluscahave been presented 

 by Mr. G. F. Angas, and some miscellaneous exotic species by Mr. 

 Whiteaves. One of the S. Australian shells is a Solemya (S. Aus- 

 tralis) interesting as closely resembling a species ($. velum, Say,) 

 found on the Atlantic coast of the United States. 



