1 36 Journal of Travel and Natural History 



animal appeared to be totally unknown in the country ; so much so, that when 

 I brought it in, none of the natives could inform me what it was. On inquiry 

 I find it is known in Siberia ; but, in this part of the world, this is the first 

 instance in which it has been met with. — Proc. Roy. Geo. Sor., vol. xi.. No. 3. 



Age of Kitchen Middens of Cape Henlopen, U. S. — Dr Leidy 

 in the course of the summer made a visit to ihe kitchen middens of Cape 

 Henlopen, in company with Mr Cassie, Mr Robert Fraser, and Mr Canby 

 of Wilmington. They had noticed the shell accumulations extending from just 

 below the town of Lewes on Delaware Bay, for about the distance of a mile or 

 more, to the base of a huge sand dune between the bay shore and the lighthouse 

 of Cape Henlopen. They had provided themselves with ample means to 

 examine the extent of the shell heaps, and had been surprised to find that they 

 were all quite superficial, from a few inches to less than a foot in depth. In a 

 number of places they appeared to form hillocks but they were only accumula- 

 tions around the former sites of trees, as indicated by the traces of stumps and 

 roots. They visited similar accumulations on the shore south of the Cape, and 

 were told that they were found in many portions down the coast. All of those 

 which were examined contained fragments of pottery, chips of jasper, and 

 stone arrow-heads. A few copper rings were also found, and in one heap 

 Mr Canby found several English coins. Dr Leidy thought the shell heaps 

 were of no gi'eat age, and were probably contemporary with the discovery 

 of the country by Europeans. — Froc. Acad. Nat. Sc, Phil., 1866, p. 290. 



Steatomis caripensis. — Ever since Humboldt's time this bird has 

 maintained its place as a sub-family of the goatsuckers, rather from the diffi- 

 culty of finding a more suitable place for it elsewhere than from any very strong 

 belief by ornithologists that it really was a goatsucker, whatever its outward 

 resemblance. A bird which was known to feed upon fruits so hard as to 

 require a hammer to break them, could never be very confidently arranged in 

 the same group as the small-billed insectivorous goatsuckers. The scarcity of 

 specimens, however, more especially of the skeleton and soft parts, has hitherto 

 prevented a proper ascertainment of its affinities. The Zoological Society 

 has now procured the means of clearing this up. From one of their corre- 

 sponding members, they have received a supply of specimens in spirits, 

 some of which have been presented to the Royal College of Surgeons, the 

 British Museum, &c., and a portion retained for examination by their own 

 prosector, Dr Murie. Complete accounts of the anatomy of this bird may, 

 therefore, be soon looked for from the labours of Professor Huxley, Dr Murie, 

 and others. 



