192 Miscellanies. 
two inches long. ‘Those needles, on which the fusion had not made 
much impression, still showed traces of hexagonal prisms, ter- 
minated by prisms of six facets. In a second storm, others fell 
which were not larger than hazel nuts, and these were formed of 
concentric layers, more or less transparent, rounded, or slightly oval, 
and possessed a powerful horizontal motion; they were heard to 
hiss in the air, as if each hail-stone rubbed against the other, and 
their rotation was extremely rapid.— Atheneum. 
16. New Animal.—A new genus of Mammalia has been found 
in Madagascar, by M. Goudot, which M. Doyere, Professor at the 
College of Henri Quatre, proposes to call Eupleres. It is a lively, 
swift animal, with slender legs, and entirely Plantigrade, the sole of 
the foot being the only part free from hair. It lives on the surface 
of the ground, is long and thin in the body, and its girth is that of 
most Insectivora. If any judgment may be formed from its anato- 
my, its hearing is equal to that of other Insectivora; and the size of 
its orbits shows that its sight is likely to be good. ‘The thumb is 
much the shortest of its five fingers, and all are armed with sharp, 
thin, and semi-retractile nails. The natives say that it hollows out 
the sand, and lives in pits. Flacourt mentioned this animal under 
the name of Falanou, and thought it to be a civet, which error has 
been continued in several works. The animal we now speak of was 
too young to have completed its dentition, but at present it has six 
incisors in the upper jaw, two canines, six pointed grinders, and four 
tuberculous grinders in the under jaw; eight incisors, two canines 
with a double root, fitting behind those of the upper jaw, like the 
mole, four pointed grinders, and six with five tubercles in the lower 
jaw. M. Doyére gives the specific name in honor of M. Goudot, 
and writes it EupleresGoudotii.—Atheneum. 
17. Ornithology.—A new bird belonging to the Passeres, and 
among the Upupe, has been found at Madagascar, by M. Goudot, 
and forms the type of a new and remarkable genus. The beak is 
very long, arched, compressed or flattened, like a blade, and may 
be compared to that of a small sythe. The nostrils, placed at the 
base of the beak, and pierced laterally, are not covered by the ante- 
rior feathers of the head. The wings, which in length reach the 
middle of the tail, according to the nomenclature of M. Isidore Geof- 
froy, belong to the type called by him surobtus,—that is, having the 
