150 Miscellaneous. 



" The admeasurements agree very closely with V. Daubentonii, to 

 which we believe it must in every respect be referred." 



A NEW MARSUPIAL ANIMAL. 



Perameles Tuckeri, n. s. Head short, conical ; ears large, hairy, 

 coloured like the back, with a blackish edge ; fur soft, brown, va- 

 ried with gray hairs, and black tips ; sides yellow-brown, beneath 

 yellowish gray, under fur of back lead-coloured ; tail as long as the 

 body, tapering, hairy, and coloured like the body at the base, black- 

 ish and with rather adpressed hairs for two -thirds of its length. 

 Length of the head 1^, of the body 5|, of tail 5^, of hind foot 1^ inches. 



Inhab. Australia. In the collection of Mr. Tucker, the naturalist 

 dealer, after whom I have named it. — John E. Gray. 



A NEW SPECIES OF FOSSIL DOLPHIN. 



M. Von Olfers laid before the meeting of the Royal Academy of 

 Sciences of Berlin (Dec. 19, 1839), the fragments of some fossil re- 

 mains of Cetacece found in the Prussian states. The most important 

 are the clearly distinguishable remains of the skull of a Dolphin 

 (Delphis Karstenii) converted into sandstone, which differs from all 

 hitherto found, and appears to form the transition between D. glo- 

 biceps and the allied species and the fossil genus Ziphius. It oc- 

 curred near Biinde in Westphalia. Vertebrae of Balcenoptera were 

 also communicated by Prof. Becks ; they occurred in a clay bed 

 [Thonlager] between Bocholt and Oeding. 



ON THE MINERAL CALLED DYSODIL AS A PRODUCT FROM THE 

 SHELLS OF INFUSORIA. BY C. G. EHRENBERG. 



In 1808 M. Cordier in Paris gave this substance the name of 

 Dysodil, as a peculiar species of mineral ; it had, however, previously 

 been placed by mineralogists amongst the bituminous substances, 

 and called foliated mineral pitch {bldttriges Erdpech). As is well 

 known, it is combustible, and in Sicily, where it was first discovered, 

 it is used as peat. 



As early as the 16th of April of this year, I made a communica- 

 tion to the Society of the Friends of Natural History in Berlin (see 

 the Staatszeitung of the 29th of April), in which I stated that this 

 mineral occurring in Sicily, resembling yellow wax, and composed 

 of densely matted together siliceous shells (Kieselschalen) of the 

 Naviculce penetrated and cemented by a kind of resin, consists of a 

 species of mail-covered infusoria. I also stated that there existed 

 in the collections of the mineral-dealer, M. Krantz of Berlin, a lig- 

 nite from Westerwalde, the colour of which is quite black, and in 

 which may be recognised all the microscopic characters of the yellow 



