388 Miscellanies. 



Conus adversarius. — Shell sinistral, with obsolete spiral lines, ex- 

 cept at base, where they are prominent; angle of body whorl, and 

 base of the whorls of the spire carinated ; the carina slightly tuber- 

 culated towards the apex ; spire prominent. Length 2i inches. 



Lucina javiaicensis, Lam. — This is a single valve, which differs in 

 no respect from the recent specimens of the West Indies. 



13. Intelligence. — The twelfth number of Mr. Conrad's Naiades has 

 been published by Mr. J. Dobson, Philadelphia.* 



Dr. Holbrook's fourth volume on North American Herpetology 

 will soon appear.! 



Dr. Binney of Boston is, we are informed, about to reprint his Mono- 

 graph of the Helices, with plates, executed in the best style of art. 



The Zoology of the State of Neiu York. — It is the present inten- 

 tion of this commonwealth to publish the zoological portion of the 

 survey, which has been making for three years past, in the most beau- 

 tiful and elaborate manner. Every species, from mammalia to insects, 

 to be engraved on steel plates — the insects to be described by Dr. 

 Harris, of Cambridge, and the other departments by Dr. DeKay, the 

 surveyor. 



We hope this is only the dawn of liberal state and governmental 

 patronage of science in this country, and that the day is not far dis- 

 tant when every State in the Union will follow the same example. 

 On the return of our Antarctic Exploring Squadron, the general gov- 

 ernment will no doubt take pride in executing the scientific portion 

 of their reports, in a manner equal to similar productions of Eng- 

 land, and more particularly of France. 



14. Sorex parvus and Sorex hrevicaudis. — The Rev. James H. 

 Linsley says in a letter to the junior Editor — Dear Sir : I would in- 

 form you that I discovered and caught the Sorex parvus of Say 

 (small shrew) in the town of Darien, in this State, some time since. 

 This is probably one of the smallest quadrupeds of the class mam- 

 malia, being but about two inches in length, and the tail three-fourths 

 of an inch. I do not ascertain that it has ever been before seen east 

 of the Mississippi. I would also add, that about a week since, (Au^. 

 25,) I found, drowned in a small cistern, at my house in this place, 

 the Sorex hrevicaudis of Say. The description in Dr. Godman's 

 American Nat. Hist, is perfect, and answered in every particular to 

 my animal, except that mine was 4^ inches in length, and his 4f inch- 

 es, including the tail, which was one inch in both. The division of 

 the ear in this animal is a remarkable feature — the ear is nearly be- 

 hind the head, divided in two parts, ^^ tragus and antitragus,''^ very 

 white — the nose a livid brown color, quite remarkable — the teeth as 



* See this Journal, Vol. xxix, p. 391. \ See Vol. xxxv, p. 186. 



