416 Rev. W. Houghton on the Unicorn of the Ancients. 



perne angulata ; peristomate continuo, subreflexo ; anfractu ulti- 

 mo subumbilicato. 

 "Animal Melanice simile, proboscide elongata, antice emarginata; 

 tentaculis filiformibus duobus oculos postice prope basin geren- 

 tibus ; pede mediocri ovato, antice subquadrato. Operculo 

 corneo subspirali. 



" T. montana. 



" T. testa olivacea, ovato- conica; anfractibus sex, rotundatis, suturis 

 impressis ; apertura intus albida ; peristomate nigrescente ; apice 

 obtuso, plerumque decollato. 



" Hab. in rivo, apud lacum Kemaonensem Bhimtal dictum. 



" This little shell I first found adhering to the prone surface 

 of a leaf of Fotamogeton^ in a clear and weedy stream running 

 through a marsh at the head of Bheemtal and supplying that 

 lake; and subsequently Dr. Bacon and myself found it abun- 

 dantly on the stems of a water Iris which we drew up by the 

 roots from the bed of the stream for examination." 



I further remarked that it exhibited a tendency towards Pa- 

 ludina in form and in the continuity and incrassation of the 

 peristome. 



Cheltenham, Nov. 12, 1862. 



XLIV. — On the Unicorn of the Ancients. 

 By the Bev. W. Houghton, M.A., F.L.S. 



To ike Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, 



I hasten to correct a serious error which I committed in my 

 paper " On the Unicorn of the Ancients," published in the last 

 Number of your Magazine. I there stated (p. 369) that " the 

 animal which Mr. Riippell was told by a native existed in Africa, 

 and which had a long straight horn growing from its forehead (?), 

 was doubtless a Rhinoceros." I grounded this somewhat hasty 

 conclusion on a short paragraph that appeared in the twentieth 

 volume of the 'Asiatic Journal ' (July 1825), published the year 

 before BiippelFs 'Atlas zu der Reise im nordlichen Africa.' 

 I have since referred to this work, in which, at pt. i. p. 29, 

 Mr. Riippell has made some observations on the Unicorn, whicli, 

 under the name of Nillekma^ is known to the natives of Kordofan. 

 *' The accounts which I obtained," this traveller remarks (p. 30), 

 '' from persons of the greatest respectability concerning the 

 Nillekma all perfectly agreed, — to wit, the animal's hide was of 

 a reddish colour, its size that of a pony, its form slender like 

 the Antelope's ; the male had a long straight horn upon its 

 brow, which was wanting in the female. Some added that it 



