138 Zoological Society. 



south, Bactria, the valley of the Oxus, Northern Asia, Chorasmia, 

 and probably the whole of Europe, constitute the great jjrimitive ha- 

 bitation of the Horse. Far to the north the sjDecies has no congener, 

 but soon the Hemionus is known to be its companion ; and further to 

 the south, the Wild Ass extends eastward across the Indus to the 

 Bramaputra, and west into Africa, far up the banks of the Bahar-el- 

 Abiad and Atbara. Other congeners there are on this side the 

 equator, but they are not sufficiently known, nor is their precise lo- 

 cation determined." 



The author however inclines to the belief that the nations who 

 first subdued horses derived each their own race from the wild stock 

 in their vicinity, observing in the descriptions by the poets and histo- 

 rians of antiquity, the uniformity of colours and characters recorded 

 of the primitive breeds, such as the pied variety in the central moun- 

 tains of Middle Asia, the dark bay southwards of the banks of the 

 Jyhoun or Jaxartes, the dun more westward, as far as the Caspian, 

 the white on the north shore of the Euxine, and the sooty and black 

 in Europe. " We shall find," observes Col. Smith, "among these, 

 races always clouded of two colours, others constantly marked with 

 a black streak along the spine, often cross-barred on the joints, with 

 dark or black extremities ; and again, another, where circular spots, 

 commonly clearer than the ground-colour, occur — whether they be 

 bay, blackish ashy, or gi'ay ; the durability of these distinctions, not 

 obliterated even in our time, during more than 3000 years of per]:)e- 

 tual crossings of breeds, aflbrds another and a strong argument in 

 favour of an aboriginal diff'erence of species in the single form of the 

 Domestic Horse." 



The ' Natural History of Fishes,' vol. ii., by J. T. Bushnan, M.D., 

 &c., forms an introduction to the other volumes, belonging to the 

 series, on this group of animals, treating of Fishes in relation to 

 other animals, their natural habitat, structure, locomotion, &c. — the 

 ceconomical and commercial uses and advantages arising from our 

 fisheries are also dwelt ujjon. The jjlates are selected for illustration 

 of these various subjects, and therefore do not follow in any order of 

 classification, as in the volume on Perches already published. Such 

 a volume as the present one was much wanted, and has been ably 

 executed by Dr. Bushnan. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



December 8, 1840.— W. H. Lloyd. Esq., in the Chair. 

 Mr. Gould comiileted the exhibition of his fifty new species of 

 Australian birds, and characterized the following new species : — 



A new Entomyza interesting as being the second sjjecies of that form. 

 Mr. Gould received this bird from Port Essington, and believes that 

 it there supplies the place of E. cyanotis, which is common on the 

 eastern coast. Its distinguishing characteristics are its rather larger 

 size, the markings of its throat being more strongly defined and the 



