on the joints ; upper surface of the toes scutellated ; nails powerful, 

 and not much curved ; the nail of the centre toe impectinated. 



Bal^niceps Rex. 



Bill pale yellow, becoming horn-colour on the culmen and tip, and 

 blotched with dark brown ; orbits pale yellow ; head and neck slaty 

 grey, darkest on the crown ; chest ornamented with lanceolate feathers 

 of a similar colour, with a dark stripe down the centre ; abdomen, 

 flanks, thighs and under tail-coverts very pale grey ; upper surface 

 generally very dark grey, most of the feathers margined with light 

 grey ; primaries, secondaries and tail blackish grey ; rump and upper 

 tail-coverts light grey ; legs greyish black. 



Total length, from the tip of the bill to the extremity of the tail, 

 52 inches ; from the tip of the bill to the end of the centre toe, 67 ; 

 bill, from the gape to the tip, 9 ; depth of the bill, 4f ; breadth, 4 ; 

 wing, 27 ; tail, 12 ; tibiae, 13 ; tarsi, 10 ; middle toe and nail, 7 ; ex- 

 ternal toe and nail, 6^; internal toe and nail, 5^; hind toe and nail, 4. 



Hab. The upper part of the White Nile, in Eastern Africa. 



Remark. — This is evidently the Grallatorial type of the Feleeani- 

 dtv; at least such is the conclusion to which I am directed after a care- 

 ful examination and comparison of it with Pelecanvs, Grus, Ardea, 

 and Cancroma, to none of which genera is it so nearly alhed, except in 

 general contour, as to Pelecanus. Perhaps the most singular feature 

 connected with this form is the entire absence of interdigital mem- 

 brane, a character so conspicuous in the Storks, Herons, and the Boat- 

 bill, which latter bird is as nearly allied to Nycticorax as the present 

 bird is to Pelecanus. Both Cancroma and Nycticorax have the nail 

 of the centre toe strongly pectinated, which character is not found in 

 Pelecanus nor in Balceniceps. 



2. Descriptions of twenty species of Columbell^, and 

 ONE species of Cypr^a. By J. S. Gaskoin. 



1. CoLUMBELLA TENUIS. Tcsto pyramiduUs, subventricosa, 

 Icevis, tenuis, albicans, maculis irregularibus fuscis magnis 

 longitudinaliter dispositis ; anfractibus octo, duobus anticis 

 gibbosis ; spiru subelongatd, acuminatd ; aperturd lata, antice 

 divergente, postice acuminatd, labia externa tenui, internoque 

 edentula, varice externa subelevato ; striis tenuibus ab varice 

 antice coiitinuis ; canali brevi. 

 Shell pyramidal, rather ventricose, smooth, thin, of a dull whitish 

 colour, with large distant dark brown markings extending, irregu- 

 larly, in width and form longitudinally over the volutions, which are 

 eight in number, the two anterior being gibbous, the others proceed 

 to form an acuminated apex ; the spire constitutes more than one- 

 half the length of the shell * ; aperture wide, diverging anteriorly, 



* In estimating the proportionate length of the spire of the shell, I take the 

 measurement from the termination of the last volution at its junction to form the 

 posterior point of the aperture ; and the width, at the largest diameter of the an- 

 terior whorl. 



