218 Bibliographical Notices. 



157. AcRiDOTHERES TRisTis, Linn. Gong cowdea, Cing. iVa- 

 canam patchy, Mai. 



This is the common Maina of the country; they frequent 

 meadows in search of worms and grubs of insects^ not refusing 

 perfect coleoptera when they come in their way ; they scratch 

 among the ordure of cattle (whence their native appellation), and 

 scatter it far and wide over the fields, thus assisting the lazy 

 native husbandman ; and the amount of labour they perform is 

 considerable, as they generally go in parties of six or eight, and 

 often in flocks of forty or fifty. Like the other mainas also they 

 often perch on the backs of cattle in search of ticks. 



They breed in hollow trees, making a nest of fibres and dry 

 grasses, and deposit from three to five light blue eggs much 

 resembling those of the European starling in shape, but rather 

 darker in colour. Axis 13 Hues, diam. 10 lines. Young birds 

 hatched in March or April. 



[To be continued.] 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Symbolce ad Monographiam Marseniadarum. xluctore Rudulph 

 Bergh. 4to. 1853. Plates. Copenhagen, 



This work is a most interesting contribution to malacological sci- 

 ence by a young and ardent Danish naturalist, giving a very com- 

 plete detailed account of the scientific history, the anatomy, and the 

 zoological classification of these hitherto little-known MoUusca, illus- 

 trated with excellent plates of the animal, their anatomy, including 

 the teeth and the prehensile organs of the mouth, (which I believe 

 have only hitherto been observed by Messrs. Alder and Hancock in 

 this country,) and of the shells of the different species. Unfortunately 

 the history and anatomy is in Danish, but the characters of the genera 

 and species are in the Latin language. 



The author divides the family Marseniadce into three genera : — 

 1 . Marsenia, containing two subgenera ; Marsenia with eighteen 

 species, and Chelytiotus with four species, having three series of teeth 

 and an earshaped spiral shell. 2. Onchidiopsis, Beck {=Oncophora, 

 Bergh), with seven series of teeth, and a horny oblong non-spiral 

 shell, with two species, confined to the North Sea. 3. Marsenina, 

 Gray, also with seven rows of teeth, but with partly exposed ear- 

 shaped spiral shell, containing only two species, from the North Sea. 

 It is probable that the two latter genera may eventually form a 

 separate family, or form a part of Velutinidee. 



