76 Miscellaneous. 



Taxidermist, of New York, who has no accurate recollection of its 

 locality, but is of the opinion that it came from South America. 



I have named this singular and beautiful little species in honour of 

 Mr. Edward Harris, of Moorestown, N. J., Chairman of the Ornitho- 

 logical Committee of this Academy, and a distinguished naturalist. 



Genus Sycobius, Vieillot. 

 Sycobius scutatus, nobis. 



£ Upper part of the head and neck, broad pectoral band and 

 under tail- coverts bright crimson; the crimson of the breast uniting 

 on the sides of the neck with that of the head. 



Throat and ears black, which colour forms a large gular patch 

 extending to, but scarcely including the eyes. 

 All other parts of the body black. 



£ Broad pectoral band and under tail- coverts crimson ; all other 

 parts, including the head, black. 



Total length of skin, from tip of bill to end of tail, about 5 J inches ; 

 wing, 3f ; tail, 2f. 

 Hab. Western Africa. 



Two pairs of this species now described were brought to this 

 country by Robert MacDowell, M.D., Surgeon attached to the 

 colonial government of Sierra Leone, who collected them in Western 

 Africa. 



It bears a greater resemblance to the Sycobius rubricollis (Swain- 

 son), Vieill. Ois. Chant, pi. 43, than to any other species which I 

 have found described; but from this and all others it may readily be 

 distinguished by its under tail -coverts being crimson, and also by its 

 broad pectoral band of the same colour. — Proceedings of the Aca- 

 demy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. iv. p. 157. 



Description of a new species of Salamander from Upper California. 

 By Edward Hallowell, M.D. 



Salamandra lugubris. 



Sp. Char. — Head large ; eyes very prominent; tail rather longer 

 than the body, which is cylindrical. Head, tail, extremities, and the 

 rest of the animal dark olive above, lighter beneath ; an indistinct 

 irregular row of yellowish spots on each side. Several small spots 

 of the same colour upon the neck and upper part of the tail and 

 posterior extremities. 



Description. — Head large, swollen at the temples, depressed in 

 front; snout obtuse and somewhat rounded; eyes large, latero- 

 superior ; nostrils latero- anterior, small and distant ; the palate is 

 provided with two transverse rows of teeth (situated immediately 

 behind the posterior nares), which are incurvated internally and 

 meet posteriorly. There is also a longitudinal row of teeth, sepa- 

 rated from those described by an interval of half a line ; tongue long 

 and spatulate, very free at its edges, attached by a pedicle at its 

 anterior extremity ; neck somewhat contracted, without a gular fold ; 

 body and extremities slender, the posterior larger than the anterior ; 

 tail compressed, cylindrical, tapering to a point. 



Colour. (From a specimen in spirits in the museum of the 



