57 



May 14, 1833. 



Will!ain Yarrell, £sq. in the Chair. 



Varlous skins ofBirds from Svvitzerland, presented to the Society 

 by the Administration of the INIusee Acadėmiąue of Geneva, were 

 exhibited. They comprised several species not previously contained 

 in the collection. 



At the reąuest of the Chairman, a paper by Mr.Gould " On a nevv 

 Genus of the Family Corvidcc" was read. The genus proposed by 

 Mr. Gould comprehends the Pica vagabunda, Wagl., Pica Sine)isis, 

 Gray, and a third species which the author believes to have been 

 hitherto unnoticed. To this group, on account of its arboreal ha- 

 bits, he gives the name of 



Dendrocitta. 



Rostrum capite brevius, cultratum, ad basin latum, culmine ar- 

 cuato, lateribus subtumidis. 



Nares basales, plumis setaceis partim tectae. 



Alce raediocres, remigibus 5ta 6t^que longioribus. 



Cauda elongata, cuneata, rectricibus spatulatis. 



Tarsi breves, debiles. Digiti mediocres. HaUux fortis, ungue 

 forti, incurvo. 



Typus genericus. 



Dendrocitta leucogastra. Dend. atra; occipile, cei-vice, 

 strigd transversd ad remigum basin, abdomineque albis; scapu- 

 larihtiSį interscapulio , tectricibusque catidce itiferioribus diluli 

 castaneis ; rectricibus diiabus internis nisi ad apices cinereis. 

 Hab. 



The shortness and comparative feebleness of the tarsi in Dendro- 

 citta, and its more elongated tail, the featliers of which are eqMally 

 graduated, except the two middle ones \vhich are much longer than 

 the others, dislinguish it from the typical Picce, the conunon Magpie 

 for example. These characters are in accordance with its habit of 

 wandering from tree to tree in scarch of its food. It is furtlier di- 

 stinguished by the form of its bill. 



Ali the species yet knovvn are natives of Eastern Asia. 



Mr. Bennett called the attention of the Society to the skin and 

 skeleton of an animal recently living in the Menagerie, and exhibited 

 in illustration of a paper " On the Family oi ChinchillidcB, and on a 

 Nevv Genus referrible to it," ihe commencement of which he read. 

 The animal in ąuestion \vas purchased,in June 1832, from a dealer, 

 who was completely ignorant of the locality from which it was ori- 

 ginally obtained ; and was brought by Mr. Bennett under the notice 



No. V. Proceedincs of thk Zoologicat. SoriF.Tv. 



