210 Zoological Society. 



tions a whorl of leaves more than a few lines in length, and then 

 only at the extremity of the stalks ; so that the identity is not 

 complete. 



St. Leonard's Parsonage, North Shore, Sydney, April 7, 1848. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



January 25, 1848. — Dr. Gamble in the Chair. 

 On a new species of Parrot. By G. R. Gray, Esq., F.L.S. 



I have compared the drawing of a Parrot now living in Lord 

 Derby's collection at Knowsley with all the descriptions and figures 

 of the different known species, but have not succeeded in meeting 

 with one to which it can be referred. I am however somewhat 

 doubtful whether the bird represented belongs to the genus Platy- 

 cercus, or to Coracopsis ; I have given the preference to the latter, 

 leaving it to those who may have a better opportunity of examining 

 the specimen than I had, while it was in London in the summer of 

 1847, to decide this question; and I feel that it is even possible that 

 it may prove to be the type of a new form altogether. I propose to 

 characterize it provisionally as 



Coracopsis .'' personata. 



Sp. Ch. — Smaragdina -fronte, periophthalmis mandibularumque basi 

 atris ; pectore abdomineque medio aurantiacis, hoc saturatiore ; 

 remigibus rectricibusque cyaneo-nigris. 



The habitat of this fine bird is supposed to be New Guinea. It 

 appears to be about fifteen inches in length. 



February 8. — William Yarrell, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 

 Three communications were made to the Meeting : — 



1. Description of a new species of Galidictis from Mada- 

 gascar. By John Edward Gray, Esq., F.R.S. 



Geoffroy St. Hilaire, in the manuscript catalogue of the Mam- 

 malia in the Paris collections, notices a specimen from Madagascar 

 which had been collected by M. Sonnerat, which he described in the 

 following manner, under the name of Mustela striata : " Supra satu- 

 rate fusca ; striis quinque longitudinalibus angustis parallehs albis ; 

 gastrseo pallide canescente, caudd basi fusca, reliqua albci ; statura 

 Mustelse vulgaris." — Fischer, Syn. 224. 



M. Cuvier in the 'Regne Animal' (ed. 2*^^. 144) described the same 

 specimen under the name of " La Belette rayee de Madagascar, 

 Putorius striatus, Cuvier, de la taille de la belette d'Europe, d'un 

 brun roussatre avec cinq lignes longitudinales blanchaties ; de dessous 

 et presque toute la queue Wane' atre." 



