309 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Oingee Squirrel of Sonnerat, 



SoNNEKAT, in his ' Voyage ' (vol. ii. p. 140), very shortly describes 

 a Squirrel, under the name of TEcureuil de Gingi, thus : — 



" Rather larger than Seiurus vulgaris ; fur entirely earthy grey, 

 paler on the beUy, legs, and feet ; on each side of the belly is a white 

 streak extending from the armpits to the thighs ; eyes surrounded 

 with white ; tail entirely black, with some white hairs." The fol- 

 lowing names have been given to the subject of this notice : — 



Seiurus dschinschicus, Gmelin, S. N. i. p. 151. 

 S. gingianus, Shaw, Zool. ii. p. 147 ; Kuhl, Beitr. 67. 

 S. albovittatus, Desm. Mam. 358 ; Horsf. Zool. Java. 

 >Si. albovittatus, var. dschinschicus, Fischer, Syn. 

 Macroxus albovittatus. Lesson. 



Gingee is in the Carnatic, near Pondicherry. Sonnerat's descrip- 

 tion has been considered to indicate a variety of Xenis setosus of 

 Africa, which has spiny fur ; but in that animal the streak is on each 

 side of the back, and not on the sides of the beUy. There is not a 

 word in the short description to lead one to believe it was a spiny 

 Squirrel, or lived on the ground ; and I have never seen a Xerus 

 from India. Sonnerat's animal either belongs to a species not in 

 European museums and not noticed by recent Indian naturalists, 

 probably allied to S. platani of Java, or it may be a variety of the 

 Macroxus bi color, which is found in various parts of India and the 

 Malay peninsula. It would be very interesting to receive a speci- 

 men, agreeing with Sonnerat's description, from the Carnatic. — J.E. 

 Gray. 



On the Mode in which certain Rotatoria introduce Food into their 

 Mouths. By E. Clapakede. 



In the Zygotrocha of Ehrenberg the vibratile apparatus may be 

 regarded as double. The movement of the cilia is always in the 

 same direction and opposite to that of the hands of a watch ; hence it 

 is directed towards the mouth in the right wheel and from it in the 

 left one. But observation proves that food passes to the mouth both 

 from right and left, which is incompatible with the received notion 

 that the currents conveying the food are produced by the vibratile 

 apparatus. The examination of such Eotatoria as the Melicertce 

 and Lacinularice leads to the same result. 



In Melicerta ringens, on the lower siu'face of the membranous 

 vibratile organ and parallel to its margin, M. Claparede finds a sort 

 of crest, between which and the margin there is a deep fuiTow. The 

 extreme margin bears the weU-known large cilia : the crest also 



