420 MR. W. A. FORBES ON THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. [May 6, 



very small ; interior blackish purple throughout, bordered with a 

 narrow white zone ; margins strongly crenate. 



Long. 15, alt. 14, lat. 8 lin. 



Hab. Unknown. Coll. late T. L. Taylor. 



9. Petunculus orbicularis, n. sp. (Plate XXXV. fig. 9.) 



Shell moderately solid, orbicular, depressed, subequilateral, equi- 

 valve, a little compressed anteriorly ; white, spotted very sparingly 

 with brown ; valves with about thirty. rounded radiating ribs that 

 become less prominent towards the sides, and crossed all over with 

 fine concentric wavy lines taking the form of overlapping scabrous 

 laminae towards the base ; cardinal area very small ; umbones nearly 

 approximate, interior white. 



Long 12, alt. 11, lat. 4 lin. 



Hab. Bass's Straits, Tasmania. Coll. Hanley. 



This shell belongs to the same natural group as P. vitreus. 



10. Pectunculus nova-guineensis, n. sp. (Plate XXXV. 

 fig. 10.) 



Shell moderately solid, quadrately orbicular, slightly convex, 

 equilateral, equivalve ; white, tinged with pale brown under the 

 umbones ; valves sculptured throughout with close-set prominent no- 

 dulous ribs, the interstices of which are crossed by extremely fine 

 concentric striae ; dorsal margin straight, forming a sharp angle at 

 its junction with the sides, which are flattened ; ventral margin 

 arcuate ; cardinal area very narrow ; umbones small, beaks approxi- 

 mate ; interior white ; margin broadly crenate. 



Long. 16, alt. 15, lat. 7 Tin. 



Hab. New Guinea. Coll. T. L. Taylor. 



This remarkable shell belongs to the same group as P. vitreus and 

 P. orbicularis. 



4. On the Anatomy of the African Elephant (Elephas afri- 

 canus, Blum.). By W. A. Forbes, F.Z.S., F.L.S. 



[Received April 23, 1879.] 



Although the African Elephant was well known, both in their wars 

 and games, to the Romans, till within the last few years hardly any 

 specimens of this species had been seen in Europe since the days of 

 the Roman Empire. "With but one exception, as far as I can find 

 out, all our knowledge of the soft structures of the Proboscidea has 

 been, till the present year, derived from examination of the Asiatic 

 species. In his ' Memoires pour servir a. l'histoire naturelle des 

 Animaux' 1 , published in 1/34 by the Acade'mie Royale des Sciences 

 of Paris, Claude Perrault describes an African Elephant " du Royaume 

 de Congo," which was presented to the King of France by the King 



1 Tome lii. parfcie 3, pp. 101 -156. pis. 19-24. 



