462 Zoological Societj/. 



doubtful as to the propriety of admitting it among the ColdmbeUce-; 

 although wherever Col.mendicariah placed this species must of course 

 follow. Perhaps it might not be inconvenient to separate these from 

 Columbella, and to combine them with tlieir cognate species from 

 among Lamarck's Furpurce, Ricimdce and Murices, and thus bring 

 together a number of shells which would form a very natural genus.) 

 Maura (somewhat related to the last, though partaking rather less 

 completely of the characters of Columbella), livida (intimately related 

 to the last two, forming a part of the same division of the genus), 

 nigro-punclata, obtusa,Juscata, costellata, guttata, varians, angularis, 

 caslanea, sulcosa, major, procera (remarkable for its gigantic size, 

 length 2 jV, breadth -rV inches), pi/gmcea, unicolor, versicolor, and 

 dorsuta. The characters of these species, together with those of all 

 Mr. Cuming's shells exhibited at various meetings of the Committee, 

 will be found in its " Proceedings." 



June 26. — Specimens preserved in spirit were exhibited of two 

 species of Mus collected by Lieut. Col. Sykes in Dukhun, both of 

 which were apparently new to science. One of them is that referred 

 to In Col. Sykes's ' Catalogue of the Mammalia noticed in Dukhun.' 

 (Phil. Mag. and Annals, N.S., vol. x. p. 'iOS.) It was characterized 

 by Mr. Bennett as Mus oleraceus. The extreme length of the tail, 

 which measures 4:1 inches, as compared with that of the body, which, 

 including the head, measures only 2^ inches, and the comparative 

 length of the hinder tarsus, furnish characters sufficient to distinguish 

 this Indian Jield Mouse from all its congeners. The second species 

 belongs to that section of the genus Mus in which spines are inter- 

 mixed with the fur. It was designated Mus platythrix. 



Several imperfect skins of Mammalia, recently obtained by Mr. 

 Gould from Algoa Bay, were exhibited ; and Mr. Bennett remarked, 

 that notwithstanding their deficiency in the most important particu- 

 lars, they were yet of sufficient interest to claim the attention of the 

 Committee, on account of the extreme rarity of two of the species 

 to which they belonged, and of the probability that a third was alto- 

 gether unknown to science. 



One of them, the skin of a Monkey deficient as to head and hands, 

 was, Mr. Bennett stated, evidently referable to the Colobus polyco- 

 mus, Illig. ; the long milk-white tail, strongly contrasting with the 

 bright deep black fur of the body, being fully sufficient to charac- 

 terize it. On the upper part of the skin, above the shoulders, some 

 nearly white hairs were intermingled with the black ones. The only 

 discrepancy observable between the specimen and the description 

 of the species given by Pennant, was in the great length of the hairs 

 of the body, the greater number of them being four or five inches 

 long : this, it was remarked, might be dependent on age or locality. 4 



Another skin, equally imperfect with the preceding, was that of 

 the Colobus Jerrugineus, Illig., with the state of which, described by 

 M. Kuhl under the name of Col. Temminckii, the specimen agreed 

 in every respect except in the absence of any yellow tinge in the 

 rufous fur covering the under surface of the body. 



The third skin was still more imperfect than the others, having 



