60 



the neighbourhood of, and connexion with, bony structures, have 

 an evident influence on the nature of the skin and its productions." 

 Mr. Waterhouse remarked, that the description which Dr. Weis- 

 senborn had given of the peculiar spots on the hips of the Hamster, 

 caused him to suspect that they were glands, analogous to those ob- 

 servable in the Shrews, and might help the animals to distinguish 

 each other in their dark burrows. 



Mr. Charlesworth exhibited the nest, eggs, and young of the 

 Cross- bill (Loxia curvirostra), from the neighbourhood of Farnham 

 in Surrey, and read some notes, relative to their discovery, which had 

 been communicated to him by H. L. Long, Esq. 



The nest, it was stated, was lodged close to the central stem of a 

 Scotch fir, about thirty inches below its highest point, at the base 

 of the shoots of the year 1837 : it was supported beneath by five or 

 six ascending lateral branches of the tree, which so completely con- 

 cealed it, that it can scarcely have been perceptible from the ground, 

 and it was the occasional visits of the parent birds which betrayed 

 their retreat. Mr. Yarrell remarked, that the eggs very ne£irly re- 

 semble those of .the Green-finch, but are larger and have a smaller 

 portion of red colouring, and this not confined to the larger end of 

 the egg. In the young birds the beak is straight, the under man- 

 dible shuts within the upper and does not cross it as in the adult. 



Mr. Charlesworth also exhibited a bone of great size and curious 

 structure, which he stated was in all probability a ray of the dorsal 

 fin of a species of shark. 



Mr. Waterhouse exhibited two specimens of a species of Lark 

 from China, which had recently died in the Society's Menagerie, 

 having been presented to the Society by J. II. Reeves, Esq. It was 

 characterized as follows : 



Alauda SINENSIS. Al. suprd. rufo-fusctt, subtiis alba, fascid laid 

 pectorali nigrd ; lined sordide alba ah oculis, ad occiput extensd ; 

 /ronte, nuchd, et humeris castaneis ; remigibus primariis nigris, 

 marginibus externis anguste fuscescenti-albis, remige prima illo 

 extsrne marginato ; caudd nigrd, rectrice utrinque externd albd, 

 ad basin nigra lavatd, proximd utrinque albo-marginatd ; rectri- 

 cibus intermediis duabus fuscescentibus. 



Long. tot. 8 unc. ; rostri, J ; alee, 5 ; cauda, 3^ ; tarsi, 10 lin. 



Hab. apud Sinam. 



The Chinese Lark very much resembles, and is nearly allied to, 

 the Alauda Calandra of authors, but difl^ers in the following parti- 

 culars. 'Jlie beak is more compressed, and the upper mandible has 

 two longitudinal grooves on each side, the upper one of which gives 

 a keel-like edge to the culmen ; the tail is proportionately longer, 

 the tarsi are shorter ; the feet are smaller, and the hinder claws, in- 

 stead of being bent downwards, are slightly recurved*. In the co- 



* " This difference in the form of the claw cannot be depended on, as the 

 birds have been for some time in confinement; they ?««?/ originally have 

 been straight, but I think they never could have been curved downwards." 



