89 



June 23, 1835. 



Dr. Horsfield in the Chair. 



A letter was read, addressed to the Secretary by Keith E. Abbott, 

 Esq., Corr. Memb. Z. S., dated Trebizond, February 14, 1835. It 

 referred principally to a collection of skins of Mammalia and Birds, 

 and of preserved Reptiles, Fishes, and Insects, formed chiefly in his 

 neighbourhood by the writer, and presented by him to the Society. 

 It also referred to some living animals presented by him at the samė 

 time. A portion of the collection was obtained bv Mr. Keith Abbott 

 from the vicinity of Erzeroun, to which city he statės his intention 

 of proceeding shortly \vith the vie\v of taking up his residence there 

 for some time. 



The collection was exhibited. 



Among the Mammalia Mr. Bennett pointed out, as apparently 

 hitherto undescribed, a " field Rat", for which he proposed the 

 name of 



Mus LATiPES. Mus caudd corpore muito longiore ; supra plumbeo- 

 niger, suhtils pallidior ■ pedibus cinereis. 



Long. corporis cum capite 5l unc. ; caudee, 8 ; auriculce, 8 lin. ; 

 pedis postici cnra. \i.ng\nbMs, H unc. 



He remarked that this new species appears to be most closely 

 alhed to the Mus Alexandrinus , Geoff., with which it nearly agrees in 

 the comparatively great length of its tail. Its colouring is, however, 

 much darker than that of the species refen-ed to. The hairs over the 

 whole of the body are very long and silky : the short rigid hairs on 

 the tail, as is stated to be the case also in Mus Alemndrinus, are 

 comparatively numerous. 



The other Mammalia comprised a Shrem, Sor€x; a HedgeJiog 

 Erinacevs ; a Marten, Mustela Foina, Linn. ; and a Badger. Meles 

 Tams, Storr. The skin of the latter was remarked on as particu- 

 larly interesting, not only on account of its eastem locality, but also 

 for the softness and length of its comparatively dense fur ; for its 

 greater paleness, depending on the extent of the whitish or fulvous 

 tips of the separate hairs ; for the copiousness of the under soft 

 woolly coat of fur v?ith which the animal is covered at the base of the 

 longer setacepus hairs ; and for the diminished breadth, as compared 

 with ordmary European specimens, of the black marking of the under 

 surface. 



A specimen of a Zorille, Mustela Zorilla, Desm., contained in 

 the collection, is apparently scarcely different, notwithstanding the 

 great difFerence of locality, from an individual obtained, by the kind- 

 ness of Sir Thomas Reade, from Northern Africa. Respecting this 

 ammal Mr. Keith Abbott statės, " It is called, in Turkish, Gheurjen 



