356 Miscellaneous. 
Altai chain, and obtaining from one of them a view of the Thian- 
Chan, whose height he estimates from 16,000 to 17,000 feet, neariy 
one-half being covered with eternal snows, Dr. Schrenk won for him- 
self the proud title of being the first European who had pushed his 
researches to the northern foot of the “celestial mountains” of the 
Chinese empire. It is indeed quite clear, from what I already know 
of them, that Dr. Schrenk’s researches must materially change all 
earlier maps ; for though the lake Balkash is laid down, the Issikul 
does not appear, at least not by that name. Again, the sources of 
the Tchu river, and its course into the Telekul lake, and the occa- 
sional communication between that lake and the Jaxartes (Sir Daria); 
the true course of the latter stream is the country watered by the 
upper streams of the Sara Su-a-Ishein, where alone the beautiful 
mineral “ dioptase”’ is found.—From the Anniversary Address of the 
President of the Royal Geographical Society. 
Description of three new species of Bivalve Shells, of the genera Cy- 
therea and Venus, by Sytvanus Haney, Esq. 
Cyturrea Ovum. Cy. testd ovatd, solidissimd, equivalvi, ventri- 
cosd, nitidd, levigatd, albidd, epidermide fulvad indutd ; margine 
ventrali integro, arcuato; dorsali, utringue convexiusculo et sub- 
declivi; latere antico rotundato ; postico obtuse subangulato, su- 
perne glauco-cineraceo; natibus recte incurvatis, se@pe erosis ; 
lunuld obsoletd ; superficie interna albida, postice livido-purpuras- 
cente infectd; dente postico leviter crenulato; sinu palliari vix 
wlio. Long. 0°90; lat. 1-20 poll. 
Index Test., sup. t. 15. f.21. Mus. Cuming, Hanley. 
Hab. ? 
Remarkable for its peculiar solidity and the equality of its sides. 
It bears a slight resemblance to the true castu of Chemnitz, but is a 
more ovate shell. 
Venus Brueuirrt. Ven. testd oblongd, solidiusculd, subnitidd, con- 
vead, valdé inequilaterali, aut pallide brunned, radiis paucis albis 
ornatd, aut fusco-cineraced, radiis saturatioribus angustis remotis 
interruptim pictd ; radiatim sulcatd ; sulcis in medio subimbricatis, 
utrinque subdecussatis, et postice in costellas (plerumque subgra- 
nosas) mutatis ; margine ventrali subrecto aut pauld convexiusculo; 
dorsali, posticé vix declivi, subrecto aut convexiusculo, antice sub- 
declivi et convexiusculo ; extremitate anticd rotundata ; latere pos- 
tico producto, obtuse et oblique biangulato ; margine postico magis 
minusve convero; natibus curvatis et radio brevi livido postice 
ornatis ; lunuld subobsoletd ; ligamento subinfosso ; margine cardi- 
nali intus purpureo ; dentibus angustis, recurvis, parallelis. Long. 
0°85; lat. 1°40 poll. 
Index Test., sup. t. 15. f.59. Mus. Cuming, Hanley. 
Hab. ? 
Belonging to the section Pullastra, and allied to decussata, but 
easily distinguishable by its shape and peculiar sculpture. It has how- 
ever been figured for that species in the ‘ Encyclopédie Méthodique,’ 
pl. 283. f. 4. 
