192 Miscellanies. 



two inches long. Those needles, on which the fusion had not made 

 much impression, still showed traces of hexagonal prisms, ter- 

 minated by prisms of six facets. In a second storm, others fell 

 which were not larger than hazel nuts, and these were formed of 

 concentric layers, more or less transparent, rounded, or slightly oval, 

 and possessed a powerful horizontal motion ; they were heard to 

 hiss in the air, as if each hail-stone rubbed against the other, and 

 their rotation was extremely rapid. — Athenccum. 



16. Neiv Animal. — A new genus of Mammalia has been found 

 in Madagascar, by M. Goudot, which M. Doyere, Professor at the 

 College of Henri Quatre, proposes to call Euphres. It is a lively, 

 sw'ft animal, with slender legs, and entirely Plantigrade, the sole of 

 the foot being the only part free from hair. It lives on the surface 

 of the ground, is long and thin in the body, and its girth is that of 

 most Insectivora. If any judgment may be formed from its anato- 

 my, its hearing is equal to that of other Insectivora; and the size of 

 its orbits shows that its sight is likely to be good. The thumb is 

 much the shortest of its five fingers, and all are armed with sharp, 

 thin, and semi-retractile nails. The natives say that it hollows out 

 the sand, and lives in pits. Flacourt mentioned this animal under 

 the name of Falanou, and thought it to be a civet, which error has 

 been continued in several Vv'orks. The animal we now speak of was 

 too young to have completed its dentition, but at present it has six 

 incisors in the upper jaw, two canines, six pointed grinders, and four 

 tuberculous grinders in the under jaw ; eight incisors, two canines 

 with a double root, fitting behind those of the upper jaw, like the 

 mole, four pointed grinders, and six with five tubercles in the lower 

 jaw. M. Doyere gives the specific name in honor of M. Goudot, 

 and wv'iies \i Eujjhi'esGoudotii. — AtheJicsum. 



17. Ornithology. — A new bird belonging to the Passeres, and 

 among the Upupa, has been found at Madagascar, by M. Goudot, 

 and forms the type of a new and remarkable genus. The beak is 

 very long, arched, compressed or flattened, like a blade, and may 

 be compared to that of a small sythe. The nostrils, placed at the 

 base of the beak, and pierced laterally, are not covered by the ante- 

 rior feathers of the head. The wings, which in length reach the 

 middle of the tail, according to the nomenclature of M. Isidore Geof- 

 frey, belong to the type called by him swro^^MS,— that is, having the 



