320 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [April, 



Inclination, or dip. 



1827, November, at Calcutta, by M. Blossville, 26 32 38 N. 



1832, February, ditto, by J. Prinsep, 26 42 ? N. 



1837, April, at Diamond Harbour, mean of four observations, by 



direct and indirect methods*, with two instruments, 26 39. 4 N. 



The Secretary noticed that the bill drawn from Malacca on account of 

 the Tapir, had been presented and accepted for Rs. 226 12— but the animal 

 had not yet made his appearance. 



M. Chevalier, mineralogist of the corvette La Bonite, requested the 

 Society's acceptance of a series of Geological specimens from Corsica. 



Lieutenant Kittoe presented specimens of the rocks in Cuttack : — also 

 a snake (Coluber rnycterizans ?) in spirits ; thus described by the donor: — 

 " The snake was killed by a sip<ibi in the hilly country west of Cuttack. It occur- 

 red to me that I had read of a similar reptile, and on referring to the Journal of the 

 A. S. for April, 1835, page 217, I found the description (given there by Lieut. Caut- 

 ley) of one found near the Seivalik hills ; mine, however, differs very materially in 

 some points, though it answers nearer to the description given of the " snouted snake" 

 in his note extracted from the Encyclopedia Britannica, as will be seen on comparing 

 the following detail : — 



ft. in. 



Extreme length of the reptile, 4 11 § 



Circumference of the thickest part of body, 2 | 



Ditto of the neck 1 



Breadth of the widest part of the head, § 



Length of ditto, 1 | 



Projection of the upper jaw or snout, J 



Length from snout to the vent, 3 2 § 



Ditto vent to end of the tail, 1 9 | 



Abdominal plates or scales, 185 



Subcaudal to extremity of tail 280 



The eye yellow, oval shape, with black horizontal pupil. Color, upper half grass- 

 green, under half pea-green : has a white line on either side 1.16th of an inch wide for 

 whole length, except towards the extremity of the tail, which is very sharp pointed. 

 The lower jaws when the mouth is closed are even or nearly so with the upper, but 

 when open, expand to near double the width. It has double rows of teeth in both the 

 upper and lower jaws, and several in the upper, much larger than the rest, having 

 the appearance of fangs. Its motion is described as that of rapid bounds, moving also 

 swiftly on the leaves and branches of trees : the present specimen, however, was killed 

 in the sandy bed of the Mahanaddi, near a bush, while in the act of catching a bird. 

 See Plate XXIII." 



Lieut. Kittoe in another note mentions the discovery of extensive 

 coal beds in Ungool and Hindoee, near the Kursooa and Byturnee rivers. 



The existence of the mineral at these places had before been made known 

 to the Europeans, and specimens had been produced. Lieut. Kittoe was anxi- 

 ous to visit and survey the locality, that he might report in further detail, as, if 

 conveniently situated for water carriage down the Mahanaddi, the coal might be 

 made available for steamers touching at Pooree. The coal and iron mines are 

 together. 



Letter from Professor Royle inclosing Prospectus of the London 

 Caoutchouc Company, and inviting the Society's attention to this new 

 commercial product, which might be cultivated to any extent on the Silhet 

 frontier and in lower Assam. 



The present supply, from Para chiefly, is many thousand tons less than the demand 

 for home consumption. The mode of gathering the juice for export followed at Para 

 is approved of, but the Company or Patentees recommend in lieu of the clay balls, 

 that wooden cylinders about the size of a quart bottle should be used. First dipped 

 into clay water, they are immersed in the crude juice and hung up to dry ; the dip- 

 ping is thus repeated until a layer of Caoutchouc § an inch thick covers the cylinder 



* The indirect method is by taking the dip out of the meridian, and reducing it 

 thereto by a simple calculation ; the agreement is very close. 



