96 



grain ; tliey are also used by the pot-makers to carry tlieir clay ; 

 and tliey are always seen, as in Europe, associated with gipsies." 



The Prince of Musignano exhibited to the Meeting a lithographic 

 print of the Gigantic Salamander, brought by Dr. Siebold from 

 Ja]mn, and presei-ved alive at Leyden. 



Mr. Gould called the attention of the Meeting to a collection of 

 Birds from Australia and the adjacent islands, belonging to the Rap- 

 torial Order, and upon which he proceeded to offer the following 

 observations. 



" My attention during the last few days having been directed to the 

 Raptorial Birds of Australia and the adjacent islands, and my own 

 collection from those parts being particularly rich in the birds of 

 this order, I am induced to lay before the Society a slight sketch 

 of all the species found in that portion of the globe, and to exhibit to 

 the Meeting a few which I conceive to be now for the first time 

 made public. From our limited knowledge, however, of this vast 

 continent, my observations will more particularly refer to the birds 

 of the southern parts of Australia and Van Diemen's Land, these 

 being the districts which up to the present time have been most ex- 

 tensively explored. 



" Most ctf the forms now exhibited will be found lo bear a striking 

 resemblance to those inhabiting Europe ; indeed, the similarity 

 is so strikingly obvious as to leave no doubt of the influence of tem- 

 perature on the form of animals. 



" A remarkable deficiency, and that a very important one, is the to- 

 tal absence of any of the Vulturidce, or of any form by which this 

 family might be represented. It is true that a bird has been described 

 by Dr. Latham under the name of ' New Holland Vulture ;' but 

 this bird is now almost universally admitted to belong to a totally 

 different order, that of the Rasores. I have placed an example of 

 this singular species on the table, an examination of which will en- 

 able any member present (who has not before had an opportunity of 

 inspecting it,) to judge of the impropriety of assigning it a place 

 among the Raptores. The nearest approach to the Vulturida, said 

 to be from New Zealand, and brought from thence by Captain Cook, 

 is the Polyborus Novee-Zelandiee, the Falco Nova-Zelandice of Dr. La- 

 tham: now as I conceive that the specimen brought home by Cap- 

 tain Cook will prove to be identical with those so frequently trans- 

 mitted from the Straits of Magellan, as I am not aware of any other 

 specimen except Captain Cook's having been received direct from 

 New Zealand, and, moreover, that the form is strictly confined to 

 America and its adjacent islands, some mistake may have arisen in 

 labelling the specimen brought home by our celebrated navigator, 

 a circumstance which, if my opinion be correct, has involved the 

 history of the species in considerable confusion. 



" Of the genus Aquila only one species has as yet been discovered, 

 viz., the Aquila fucosa of Cuvier, which doubtless represents in Au- 

 stralia the Golden Eagle of Europe, from which it may be readily 



