23 



tier, but with the cliaracter of length of body and neck existing in 

 a greater degree than in Viv. Basse ; the ears are of moderate length 

 and suberect ; the dorsal lines are narrow, the superior eight con- 

 tinuous ; and the lateral lines resemble those on the back, and are 

 tolerably distinct and subcontinuons. Dr. Horsfield added, that not 

 having been acquainted with the Viv. Indica at the time when he 

 wrote the account of the Viv. Rcisse in his ' Zoological Researches 

 in Java,' he now found it necessary to modify the specific character 

 of the latter, which he contrasted with that o^ Viv. Indica in the fol- 

 lowing terms : 



ViVEiiRA Rasse, Viv. griseo-Julvescens ; auriculis ajjproximatis 

 rotundatis suhabbreviatis ; dorso lineis longitudinalibus octo latis 

 iijgricantibus saturatis ; late^-ibus utrinqiie lineis tribus interruptis 

 obscuris ; pedibiis concoloribus Juscis ; pilis corporis caiidceque 

 attenuates rigidiuscidis. 

 ViVERRA Indica. Viv. isabellino-grisea ; auriculis erectis sub- 

 elongatis ; dorso lineis longitudinalibus octo angustis 7iigricanti- 

 bus ; lateribus utrinque lineis tribus szibcontinuis. 

 In illustration of the confusion prevailing between the two spe- 

 cies, Dr. Horsfield referred to a note at p. 210 of M. Desmarest's 

 ' Mammalogie', where an animal preserved in the Paris Museum 

 under the name o( petite Civette de Java (in all probability the Viv. 

 Rasse) is suspected to be the young of Viv. Indica ; and to Fischer's 

 * Synopsis Mammalium', where the name of Viv. Indica is accompa- 

 nied by the characters of Viv. Rasse, as given in the ' Zoological 

 Researches in Java', the two animals being combined. The same 

 union of the two species occurs in M. Lesson's ' Manuel de Mam- 

 malogie'. 



Mr. Owen subsequently read the following notes on a malforma- 

 tion of the beak of Psittacus Erithacus, L. 



" This bird was stated to have a double beak ; but the malforma- 

 tion consists essentially in the separation of some of the upper horny 

 lamince from the remainder of the superior mandible, leaving an in- 

 terval of about 2 lines between the separated portions. The vertical 

 diameter of the detached laviince is about 2 lines, that of the re- 

 mainder of the mandible at the widest part, 6 lines, which is less by 

 2 lines than in the natural state, and shows that the detached horn- 

 like process is not to be considered a superaddition. This is also 

 manifested by the form of the upper surface of the inferior portion, 

 which, instead of being rounded and convex as in the natural state, 

 presents a groove corresponding to the size of the detached process 

 above. The latter, on the contrary, has a smooth convex upper 

 surface such as the upper mandible usually presents. A further 

 argument in favour of the above view of the subject is to be 

 derived from the situation of the nostrils, which, supposing the two 

 portions to belong to one mandible, is the same as in the ordinary . 

 beaks of this species ; for they are placed exactly in the interval of 

 the separated portions, and consequently about 2 lines from the 

 upper margin of the mandible that would result from the union ; 



