Miscellaneous. 77 



Karl Mbbius, in his very interesting lecture on the."psychischer 

 Horizont der Thiere," figures the animal of Mya arenaria, which has 

 unequal valves, and represents it as sunk perpendicularly in the sand. 

 It would be very desirable that any body having the opportunity of 

 observing the bivalve Mollusca in their living state should examine 

 into the truth of this theory, and record the exceptions. 



The Skeleton of Sphargis coria cea from Surinam. 

 By Dr. Ferdinand Krauss. 



I have compared the adult skeleton in the Stuttgart Museum from 

 Surinam with the figures of the skeleton of the French specimen 

 in the ' Archives du Museum.' I can find no difference between 

 them ; but I notice that no account of the length of the Paris spe- 

 cimen is given, so that we do not know if it is an adult or a young 

 one. 



The Surinam specimen in the Stuttgart Museum measures in a 

 straight line, from the end of the skull to the tip of the tail, 187 

 centims. ; the skull is 25 centims. long and 21-5 centims. broad, 

 the fore foot (humerus to the point of the digit) 87 centims., hind 

 foot 66 centims. 



The Deal-fish (Trachypterus arcticus). 



In the Report of the Montrose Natural-History and Antiquarian 

 Society for 1873 there is the description of a Vaagmaer or deal-fish, 

 found on the beach at Buddin Bay, near Montrose, and presented to 

 the Society by Joseph Johnston and Sons. The description is ac- 

 companied by a very good photograph, 8| inches long. The Society's 

 specimen appears to be the T. arcticus of Nilsson and Giinther. 



Damonia unicolor, a new Species of Water-Tortoise from China, 

 sent by Mr. Swinhoe. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 



Mr. Swinhoe has sent a number of tortoises in spirits from 

 Shanghai. They consist of : — 



1. Several specimens of Landemania perocellata, all young ; but 

 Mr. Swinhoe says that it grows to the length of 2\ to 3 feet. 



2. Several specimens of Damonia Reevesii, most being of adult 

 age, some being even between 4 and 5 inches long, larger than the 

 adult specimen described by me in the Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1873, 

 xi. p. 299. 



They all have the shell of a nearly uniform pale brown colour, 

 and are black beneath. The head is large and broad, uniform olive 

 above, with a white streak from the middle of the back of the eye, 

 which forks on the cheek, the upper branch being continued along 

 the side of the neck, the lower branch forked again in front of the 

 tympanum, with the upper branch reflexed and the lower arched ; 

 but the form of these lines is not important, as they vary on two 



