460 Zoological Societt). 



VII. Observed Occultation of Aldebaran. By Mr. Rothwell. Com- 

 municated by Mr. Tulley. 



VIII. Ephemeris of Encke's Comet for the Southern Hemisphere. 

 From Professor Encke. 



IX. Stars observed with the Moon, at the Royal Observatory, Green- 

 wich, in May 1832. 



X. After the reading of the preceding communications, Mr. Sheep- 

 shanks made some remarks upon the mode of adjusting the transit 

 instrument, and proceeded to describe minutely the various corrections 

 requisite for obtaining correct results, illustrating his statement from 

 various transit instruments furnished for the occasion by Messrs. 

 Troughton and Simms. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence. 



"^^^'May S — A preparation was exhibited of the generative organs 

 '"of a hybrid male bird, bred by the Society, and produced between 

 a Muscovy Drake and a common Duck ; and Mr. Yarrell described 

 the external and internal appearances of the individual from which 

 the preparation was obtained, and which, he stated, strongly re- 

 sembled, externally, the true Muscovy, while internally the viscera 

 were as decidedly indicative of the common Duck. 



The skeletons of Capromys Fournieri, Desm., and Dasyprocta 

 Acouchy, F. Cuv., having been placed on the table, Mr. Owen en- 

 tered into a series of remarks explanatory of their peculiarities, 

 which he pointed out with reference to the skeletons of other Ro- 

 dentia exhibited for the purpose of comparison : the substance of 

 Mr. Owen's remarks, together with a table presented by him of the 

 admeasurements of the skeleton in both the above animals, have 

 been printed in the "Proceedings" of the Committee. 



The exhibition of the collection of Shells formed by Mr. Cuming 

 on the western coast of South America and in the South Pacific 

 Ocean, was resumed ; and of these, the following new species were 

 characterized by Mr. Broderip and Mr. G. B. Sowerby : viz. by the 

 latter naturalist. Chiton bipunctatus, exiguns, (the smallest species 

 Mr. Sowerby has seen, length i\ths, breadth nVth of an inch,) ca- 

 te)iulatus,graniferus,stramineus,an{\Pusio ; MAiioiNELLACintfl; and 

 by Mr. Broderip, Bulinus Vexillum, pustulostis, Pupiformis, Pana- 

 mensis, albicans, affinis, modestus, scutulatus, turritus, pukhellus, ero- 

 sus, derelictus, varians, Tigris, Proteus, (four well marked varieties 

 of this species, forming a series of which the terms pass into each 

 other by a gradual transition,) mutabilis, and versicolor. 



May 22. — Mr. Yarrell exhibited skeletons and stuffed specimens 

 of the oared Shrew, Sorex remifer, Geoff"., which he had recently 

 ascertained to be an inhabitant of Britain, and a species of Arvicola, 

 also British, and apparently new to science ; he characterized the 

 latter as Arv. riparia, also modifying the characters o^ Arv. agrestis, 

 on account of the near relation to it of the new animal, pointing out 

 on the specimens exhibited the external and the osteological differ- 



