1865.] DR. WwW. PETERS ON PLATACANTHOMYS LASIURUS. 397 
April 25, 1865. 
Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., in the Chair. 
A letter was read from Professor William Nation, of Lima, Peru, 
in reference to certain specimens of Reptiles intended to be trans- 
mitted to the Society’s Menagerie. 
A letter was read from Mr. W. Alford Lloyd, describing the new 
Aquarium-house lately erected in the Zoological Society’s Gardens 
at Hamburg, and the improved system of management of Aquaria 
pursued in that establishment. 
Mr. Sclater exhibited a collection of birdskins formed by the So- 
ciety’s Corresponding Member, M. Adolph Boucard, in the vicinity 
of Vera Cruz, Mexico, in November 1864, being the first results of 
this gentleman’s new expedition to that country. The collection 
contained examples of thirty species, amongst which were two which 
had not before come under Mr. Sclater’s notice in Mexican collections. 
These were— 
1. Lophophanes atricristatus (Cassin), Baird’s B. A. p. 385, 
originally described from Texas, and 
2. Gidicnemus bistriatus, Wagl., of common occurrence in the 
open plains of Guatemala and Honduras, but not known to have 
been previously noticed so far north. 
The following papers were read :— 
1. Note on THE SystTeMATIC PosiTIonN oF PLATACANTHOMYS 
LAsIuRus. By Dr. W. Peters, For. Memes. 
(Plate XX.) 
Amongst the many interesting objects which have come under my 
observation in the British Museum through the kindness of my 
friends Prof. Owen, Dr. Gray and Dr. Giinther, is a specimen of the 
curious Rodent shortly noticed by Mr. Blyth (Journ. A. S. B. xxviii. 
p- 289) under the name Platacanthomys lasiurus. The specimen 
in question is that exhibited by Mr. Sclater at a Meeting of this 
Society in 1860*, and subsequently presented by him to the British 
Museum. 
It has always been difficult to me and other workers on the Mam- 
mals to understand how a Rodent with only three molars in each 
jaw could be referred to the Myowina; and I was therefore very 
anxious to examine this very interesting form. But the results of my 
observations will show that Platacanthomys does not belong to the 
Dormice, but appertains strictly to the Murine family of Rodents, 
being nearly allied in many respects to Phlaomys and Meriones. 
The generic characters of Platacanthomys may stand as follows :— 
* See P. Z.S. 1860, p. 260. 
