Miscellaneous. 71 



the other 22 inches long. I have not been able to discover any 

 difference between them and the specimen we have from "Western 

 Africa. The anterior filaments are very long : in the larger they 

 are 9, in the smaller, 7 inches long, and evidently much contracted 

 in drying, 



Earlxj Notice of the Ttvpaka found in Pulo Condore. 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 

 In Mr. W. Ellis's drawing (now in the Banksian Library at the 

 British Museum) of the animals observed during Cook's third voyage, 

 there is a figure and description of a species of Taj)aia, marked as 

 coming from Pulo Condore. In the J\IS. which accompanies the 

 drawing it is described as — 



" Sciurus (dissimilis) auriculis rotundis, rostro elongato, dentibus 



primoribus 6. 

 Habitat in Insula Pulo Condore. 



Statura S. vulgaris. Caput, dorsum, et cauda supra colore leporino : 

 infi'a pallido-grisea. Dentes snperiores duo breves rotundati 

 obtusi, iuferiores 4 longiores exserti cuneati acute !! Pedes pen- 

 tadactyli. Cauda depressa longitudine corporis, supra et utrinq. 

 pilis longis, infra brevibus tecta !! Mystaces breves." 



According to his ' Authentic Narrative of a Voyage,' 8vo, 1 782, 

 vol. i. p. 337, they were at Pulo Condore on the 20th of January 

 1780. 



I may here observe that Mr. Ellis, in his MS. now in the Bank- 

 sian Library, proposed and characterized several genera of birds, 

 fish, &c., which have since been published by other authors. But 

 he appears to have been restrained from publishing them bv the 

 strong prejudice that then existed against making any addition 

 to the genera allowed by Linnaeus, though that author, in his 

 various editions of his ' Systema,' constantly altered and added to 

 the genera. This prejudice continued until a much later date : thus. 

 Dr. Horsfield, in order to ensure the publication of his paper on 

 Japanese Birds, was obliged to erase a considerable number of genera, 

 which have since been universally adopted. 



New British Species of Hydra. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Gentlemen. — Only three species oi Hydra {H. viridis, H.fusca, 

 and n. grisea) have hitherto been found ; or perhaps it would be 

 safer to say, only three have been described in tbe works accessible 

 to me ; and I therefore think it not wholly superfluous to send you 

 word that a fourth species exists, apparently in great abundance, in 

 the ponds of Wimbledon Common. I have there found, besides the 

 three species already known, a beautiful bright-red s[)ecies, which I 

 propose to call Hydra rubra. The colour differs in intensity in 

 different states of the animal, being sometimes of a brick-dust hue, 

 and sometimes vcrv like the red Dianthus. 



