230 Zoological Society. 



house. An opportunity would thus be furnished of observing their 

 habits. In the Mauritius they sleep through the greater part of the 

 winter, from April to November, and are only to be found when 

 summer heat is felt, which being generally ushered in by an electric 

 state of the atmosphere, the negroes (with whom they are a favour- 

 ite food) say they are awakened by the peals of thunder which 

 precede the summer storms or ' pluies d'orage.' Even in summer 

 they are not often seen beyond the holes in which they burrow, 

 except at night. Their favourite haunts are among the old roots 

 of clumps of bamboos. They have a very overpowering smell of 

 musk at all times, which is increased to an extraordinary degree 

 when they are disturbed or frightened: yet their flesh is considered 

 so savoury by the negroes that they are unwilling to sell those 

 which tliey catch, and would not exchange it for any other food, 

 except perhaps for the ' ourite,' which is the Catfish hung up in 

 the sun until it acquires a most foetid smell, tainting the atmosphere 

 to a great distance ; in this state it is a chief ingredient in their fa- 

 vourite ragout. This mode of living may be one of the causes of 

 the peculiar odour of the skin of the woolly-headed race, which no 

 ablutions can remove, and which is not less distinctive of their race 

 than the colour of the skin itself." 



Mr. Telfair then refers to the collection of Fishes last presented 

 by him to the Society, portions of which were exhibited at the 

 Meetings of the Committee on the 12th and 26th of April. He 

 is continuing his ichthyological collections, and states the proceed- 

 ing which he adopts in the preservation of the specimens to be as 

 follows. " The moment the fish is caught it is thrown into a tub of 

 rum; and the numbers are gradually augmented until there is no 

 further room and the spirit begins to acquire a slight smell of the 

 fish. They are then taken out ; washed in fresh rum ; and again 

 put into clean spirit. They are then ticketed and numbered with 

 lead and wire, and are ready to be put up in the preparation bottles 

 as opportunities for their embarkation offer: this is done with fresh 

 spirit also." The success of this method was shown to be in many 

 instances almost complete, the fishes exhibiting great beauty and 

 brilliancy of colour. In some cases, however, it is less successful, 

 and even the same species varies considerably in its state of preser- 

 vation. Thus of the Julis decussatns,{ Sparus decussatus, J, W. Benn.) 

 two specimens almost equal the brilliancy depicted in the ' Fishes 

 of Ceylon' [Plate xiv.], while a third has parted with nearly the 

 whole of its colouring, and retains merely the markings. The iron 

 wire employed in affixing the leaden numbers has generally rusted 

 so as to stain the fishes where it has been in contact with them, and 

 has in some instances been so weakened by corrosion as no longer 

 to retain the lead. 



Mr. Telfair concludes by referring to the neighbouring island of 

 Madagascar, and to the interest attaching to its natural productions 

 so far as they have been already investigated. He remarks how 

 imperfect this investigation yet is, and gives a historical sketch of 

 the various attempts made by European naturalists during the last 

 twenty years, but few of which have been attended with even mode- 

 rate 



