Zoological Society. 457 



Forster, Esq. ; A. B.Lambert, Esq. ; W. G. Matoii, M.D. ; Whitlock 

 Nioholl, M.D. ; W. Yarrell, Esq. ; F. Boott, M.D. ; J. Curti.s Esq ; 

 Major Gen. Thos. Hardwicke ; R. I. Murchison, Esq. ■ and R. H. 

 Solly, Esq. 



Officers: — President, Edward Lord Stanley; Treasurer, Ed- 

 ward Forster, Esq. ; Secretory, Francis Boott, M.D. j Under-Secre- 

 tary, Richard Taylor, Esq, 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



January 10, 1832. — Specimens were exhibited of several Birds, 

 Land -Shells, and Corals, together with the cranium of a Balcenoptern, 

 LaCep., all collected at the Cape of Good Hope by Dr. Andrew 

 Smith, Corr. Memb. Z. S., and presented by him to the Society. 

 In illustration of the subjects exhibited, extract* were read from a 

 letter from Dr. Smith which accompanied his present. The BalcB- 

 uoptera was there referred to as Bal. Capensis : it is apparently the 

 Borqiialdu Cap of M. Cuvier in his ' Ossemens Fossiles,' which 

 has since been named by M. Desmoulins Bal. PoesJcop, and by M. 

 Fischer Bnl. Lalandii. 



Specimens were also exhibited of several Mammalia, Birds, and 

 Fishes, collected by Mr. H. Cuming, chiefly in Chili. 



Among the Mammalia, Mr. Bennett pointed out as apparently 

 new to science an Otter and a Mouse, which may be characterized 

 as follows : 



LuTRA Chilensis. Lut. supra saturate vinaceo-brunnea, infrh 

 pallidior ; caudd brunneo nigricante, corporis dimidio parum 

 brcviore. 



Hob. in aquis Chilise. 



" The total length is 2 feet 4- inches ; from the nose to the root 

 of the tail, 1 foot 7 inches; girth at the belly, 9^ inches." 



Its habits, according to Mr. Cuming's observations, agree with 

 those of the European Otter; and it is equally capable of domesti- 

 cation. 



Mus LONGJCAUDATUS. Mus caudfi longissima : supr^ pallide 

 fidvus nigrcscente varius ; ijifra et ad pedes albescens. 



Hab. in arbores Chiiiae, niduni e foliis graminura construens. 



The most striking peculiarity of this Mouse is the extreme length 

 of its tail, which approaches nearly to double that of the body ; 

 the length of the head and body, taken in a straight line, being 3 

 inches, while that of the tail is 5^. 



Among the Birds were two specimens of the Phijtotoma Bloxhami, 

 Child., which having been submitted to Mr. Children, tliat gentle- 

 man reported tiiat one of the specimens was apparently a female 

 or a young male of the species. It differed from the adult male in 

 being devoid of the ferruginous colour on the crown ; and in the 

 total absence of the same colour on the breast and abdomen, which 

 were of a dirty yellowish while streaked with fuscous. The co- 

 lours of the upper part of the body were hIho less deep than in tho 

 adult male. Mr. Children stated that tiie male specimen accorded 



JV. S. Vol, II . No. (JG. June 1832. 3 N accurutf ly 



