111 



acquainte(], the conteiUs of tlie stomaclis \vhich lie Iiad examined 

 havingbeentoofar (Jigested to enable him to ascertain their nature. 



Mr. Yarrell concluded by remarking, that, to tbe difFerences be- 

 tvveen the species, indicatcd in their fur, their osteology, and their 

 internal anatomy, a fourth series might be added, derivcd from their 

 habits. The bank Cainpagnol frecjueiits liedge-bottonis and ditch- 

 banks, and is said to make its nešt of \vool : ihejield Campagnol pre- 

 fers living among the long herbage of water-meadows and naoist 

 pastures, and makes its nešt of dried grass. 



An Extract was read from the ' Analyse des Travaux de la 

 Societe d'Histoire Naturelle de l'Ile Maurice, pendant la 2de Annee : 

 it was communicated to the Coaimittee by its author, M. Julien 

 Desjardins, Corr. Memb. Z. S., the Secretary of the Society vvhose 

 labours are enuraerated in it. 



Among the novelties which have occupied that Society during 

 the season of 1 830-1831 have been some observations by M. J. 

 Desjardins on the Zoology of the Mauritius as compared vvith that 

 of the Isle of Bourbon, from vvhich has resulted the curious fact, 

 that notwithstanding that these islands are situated in such close 

 proximity to each other, are of the šame formation, and present a 

 most remarkable analogy in their soil, their animals are not univer- 

 sally the šame, some species being met vvith in the one which never 

 occur in the other. 



In the department of Ornithology Madagascar has fiirnished to 

 M. J. Desjardins the opportunity of describing specimens ob- 

 tained from thence of the Ardea cdba, Linn., and Jrd. Garzetta, 

 Linn., and also of a Platalea, regarded by him as the F/at. leiico- 

 rodia, Gmel., but vvhich, from liis description forwarded to the 

 Committee, is evidently the species described by M r. Vigors, on 

 February 22, 1831, (Part i. p. 41,)under the namo of P/at. TeĮfalrii; 

 it \vas at that time stated by mistake to be a native of the Mauri- 

 tius; its true habitai, as pointed out by M. Desjardins, is Madagas- 

 car, \vhere it was obtained in Imime, a kingdom of the interior, in 

 vvhich is situated Tananarivoe the capital of the island. Of another 

 bird, vvhich is common in Madagascar, the Cuculus canorus, Linn., 

 a single specimen has been shot in the Mauritius. An Ibis, vvhich 

 is regarded by M. Bojer as the species sacred anfong the ancient 

 Egyptians," has been obtained, vvith several other birds, from 

 Agalega, one of the islands of the north-eastern Archipelago of 

 Madagascar. In some remarks on the bones of the Dodo, (con- 

 sisting of a stennim, a cranium , anA four bones of the extremitics,) 

 vvhich vvere sent by M. Desjardins to Paris, and vvhich excited so 

 much attention during the past summer from M. Cuvier and M. de 

 BlainviiJe, occasion is taken to correct some errors vvhich have crept 

 into the published statements respecting them. They vvere disco- 

 vered, in 1786, in a cavern on the island of Rodriguez. 



In Ichthyology, threc species have been described by M.Lienard, 

 sen., tvvo of vvhich belong to the genera Plcuroiiectes and Uulucen- 

 t mm. Another fish belongipg to the family of the Perches vvith ii 



