584 New Publications. 



month returned to London with his extensive collections of both ani- 

 mals and plants, collected principally in Natal and Amazoola land, 

 where he resided about twelve months ; during which period he assidu- 

 ously devoted the whole of his time and attention to preserving objects 

 in every department of natural history. The zoological collection com- 

 prises Mammalia, Birds, Fishes, Amphibia, Crustacea, Insects, Shells 

 (land, freshwater, and marine), Zoophytes, &c. The Botanical collection 

 comprises about 3000 species of native plants, carefully preserved, and 

 in most instances 30 specimens of each species ; those of Natal, amount- 

 ing to about 1000 species, are offered to botanists at forty shillings the 

 hundred ; and those collected in the Cape Colony at twenty-five shillings 

 per hundred species. A series of the zoological and botanical collections 

 we understand are about to be purchased by the British Museum; the 

 remaining sets will be disposed of to those desirous of possessing them. 

 In addition to the above collections Dr. Krauss attentively examined 

 the geological features of the country through which he travelled, with 

 a view especially to record the exact position and situation of the 

 coal fields, very imperfectly known to the farmers in the interior of 

 Africa. He has brought with him specimens illustrative of the different 

 formations, including the coal and fossils from the beds : we anticipate 

 giving a more detailed account of this traveller's expedition in a future 

 Number. 



Mr. Schomburgk's recent Expedition in Guiana. 

 " I have been told of eight varieties of Opossum which inhabit 

 Guiana, five of which have come under my notice, I have identified four 

 species with those described by authors, as Didelphis cancrivora, L., D. 

 quica, Temm., D. philander, Temm. and D. dorsigera, L. and Temm. ; but 

 the fifth appears to me to stand intermediate between D. virginiana and 

 D. Azarce, Screb. Temm. It differs from the latter in the absence of 

 the black markings on the head, black neck, and the black and white 

 ears, which in the Guiana species are of a uniform black colour. If we 

 could reconcile the geographical distribution of D. virginiana over a 

 space so different in temperature, I should consider the specimen which 

 I am now describing a variety of that species : the circumstance that the 

 ears are of a uniform black would scarcely constitute a specific differ- 

 ence. Its body from the nose to the insertion of the tail measures 15 

 inches and a half, the tail 15 inches. The latter, which is prehensile, 

 is for the length of 3 inches clothed with thick fur, the remainder scaly 

 for about 4 inches, of a black colour, and afterwards white. The scaly 

 part is covered with a few short hairs, black on the back part, and 



