396 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Rediscovery of Trocheta subviridis. 

 To the Editors of the Anncds and 3Iagazine of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, — As some difference of opinion has been expressed 

 as to the rediscovery of this Annelide, the following extract from 

 my notebook may be of value : — " Jan. 15 [1869]. The terrestrial 

 leeches Pryor [Mr. M. R. Piyor, of Trinity College] brought me from 

 the borders of Surrey (near Horsham, Susses) were, according to 

 Johnston, Trocheta S2i6«'/r«?/s." ...." Johnston has described (Cat. 

 Brit. Mus. Non-Parasit. Worms, 1865) Trocheta subviridis from a 

 specimen found in the Regent's Park, London (now in the British 

 Museum). This specimen appears to have been the first taken in 

 this country ; at least so it was stated by Dr. Gray, who brought it 

 before the Zoological Society in 1851 (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 2. 

 vii. 429)." This is followed by a note on the position of the gene- 

 rative organs ; for in the specimen dissected I found the ovarian 

 loop which passes below the ganglionic column occupying a position 

 different from that represented by Moqiiin-Tandon (Hirudinees, t. iv. 

 1846). I am, Gentlemen, 



Your obedient Servant, 



J. Gedge. 



Anatomical Schools, Cambridge. 



LamarcVs Collection of Shells. 



The celebrated collections of the Baron B. Delessert passed at his 

 death into the hands of his brother, the Baron F. Delessert ; at his 

 death the pictures were sold by auction ; and he left his zoological 

 collection, including Lamarck's collection of shells and his herba- 

 rium, to the Museum of Natural History of Geneva, this having 

 been his native country. His books, forming the most extensive 

 botanical library in France, were given to the library of the Institut 

 Imperial de France in Paris. — J. E. Gray. 



On the Zoolof/ical Discoveries recently made in Madagascar by 

 M. Alfred Grandidier. By M. Milne-Edwarbs. 



The existing mammalogical fauna of Madagascar is well known to 

 be very different from that of any other part of the world : it is 

 composed solely of types peculiar to that island ; and we do not find 

 in it any representative of the large herbivora which give their most 

 striking characters to the zoological population of Africa and Asia. 

 It might be thought that this was always the case ; but the discove- 

 ries of M. Grandidier will change the opinion of naturalists on this 

 point. It appears from his observations that, at the more or less 

 distant period when Madagascar was inhabited by the gigantic bird 

 which has been denominated ^pynrtils, tliis isliind also posspss(>d 



