336 Zoological Society : — 



they were chiefly led to that conclusion hy an examination of the 

 external characters only. 



I should have felt it incumbent upon me to have made some re- 

 marks on the information possessed by naturalists respecting this 

 rare and curious bird ; but almost all that can be said on the sub- 

 ject has recently been admirably recapitulated in a paper by my 

 friend Mr. T. J. Moore in 'The Ibis' for last year*. I would, 

 however, observe that though the illustrious Pallas has the credit of 

 first giving a description of this bird, he does not appear to have 

 seen more than a single example of it, which was obtained in the 

 Kirghis steppes by Nicolas Rytschkof, and mentioned by him in his 

 Journal f. And of this example, judging from the figure given of 

 it, not only, as Pallas himself says " Cauda in specimine deerat," 

 but it also appears to have lost the elongated portion of the shafts 

 of the outer remiges, which form so singular a feature in the species, 

 and which, as we see by the state of the birds in our Gardens, are 

 no doubt easily broken off. I must be allowed to add that I think 

 this circumstance greatly favours the supposition that the specimens 

 which were obtained in Western Europe in July and August 1859, 

 were not indebted to any human interference for their transport ; 

 for I have had the good fortune to examine all four of them, and 

 each possessed these extraordinary appendages in nearly perfect pre- 

 servation. 



On a New Species of Water-Tortoise (Geoclemmys me- 

 lanosterna) from Darien. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., 



V.P.Z.S., ETC. 



The British Museum has just received a very distinct species of 

 the more terrestrial kind of Terrapins, or Freshwater Tortoises, from 

 Cherunha in tbe Gulf of Darien. 



It is easily known from the other described species by the black 

 colour of the upper and lower surface, and pale-yellowish sides, and 

 the distinct bright-yellow superciliary streak on each side of the 

 head, extending from the nostril to the occiput. 



Geoclemmys melanosterna. 



Shell black, one-keeled ; the first vertebral plate longer than broad, 

 truncated behind ; second and third six-sided, about as broad as 

 long, the fourth broader than long ; the keel low, rather interrupted ; 

 the areola of the dorsal and marginal shield posterior ; the margin 

 rather acute, slightly bent up in front and on the sides ; the nuchal 

 shield more distinct ; the sternum flat, black, with rather paler edges 

 to the shields ; the sterno-costal slope rather convex, pale yellowish ; 

 the under surface of the marginal plates pale ; the axillary plate 

 moderate, the inguinal plate small, both pale-coloured. The head 

 moderate, rather acute in front, black, with a distinct bright-yellow 



* The Ibis, 1860, p. 105. 



f * Kirgis-kaisazkoi Stq>ie, &c. St. Petersburg, 1772, p. 40.' I have not 

 been able to see this work, and only quote the reference at second hand. — A. N. 



