1837.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 821 



about 6 inches high— this cup (shaped like a tumbler) is then drawn off and the 

 cylinder used again. 



The preference given to the solid clean rubber is doubtless consequent on the dis- 

 covery of a very cheap solvent of Caoutchouc in the volatile coal-oil, which is collect- 

 ed in large quantities at the gas-works. When rectified it resembles in lightness 

 and extreme volatility the distilled mineral naphtha, with which it is probably 

 identical. The Caoutchouc dissolved in this menstruum, and spread in a coat be- 

 tween two folds of silk or cloth, regains its solid and elastic form without injury. 

 Might not the naphtha springs of Assam be thus turned to account to introduce the 

 manufacture at once there, with the durable silks of the valley as a basis? Professor 

 Royle remarks, that all the trees on which the silk-worm feeds are found to contain 

 the Caoutchouc principle, which is supposed to be essential to the production of the 

 cocoon. 



The splendid fossils from Dr. Spilsbury of Jabalpur, had arrived and 

 were exhibited. 



They consisted of the humerus and cubitus of an elephant, upwards of 15 feet in 

 height ; also a portion of the pelvis of the same animal ; a very perfect elephant's head, 

 ferruginized, of a smaller size, and the head and horns of a buffalo of large size. 

 Dr. Spilsbury pointed out no less than five new sites of fossils in the Nerbudda 

 valley, two of them due to the zealous search of Major Ouseley. His note along 

 with sketches of the fossils shall appear in our next. 



A paper on a new genera of Raptores, one on a new species of Scolopacidce, 

 and one on a new genus of the Plantigrades with a drawing, were received 

 from B. H. Hodgson, Esq. 



A second fossil bone was exhibited and presented by Major Taylor, 

 brought up from the Fort boring at a depth of 362 feet below the surface. 



A drawing of this fragment is given in Plate XXII. : it appears to be a fragment 

 of the scutellum or shell of a turtle — much resembling some of the fragments found 

 so plentifully among the Jumna, the Siwalik and the Ava fossils. It is mineralized 

 just to the same extent as the bone exhibited at last meeting ; sp. gr. 2'5, loss by 

 heating red 10 per cent. A recent fragment found at the Sandheads by Dr. Cantor, 

 which had lost all its inflammable animal matter, had a sp. gr. r66. 



The following specimens of natural history were presented. 



A collection of shells, and two snakes preserved in spirits ; by Mr, 

 Fell, Indian Navy. 



A collection of shells, by Lieutenant Montriou, I. N. 



A specimen of Squilla Mantis, by Lieutenant Montriou, I. N. 



A specimen of the Indian Sucking-fish (Echeneis Indica), and a foetus of 

 a species of ovi-viviparous shark preserved in spirits, by the Hon'ble Colo- 

 nel Morison, in the nam* of Mr. W. Ewin, Branch Pilot. 



To the foetus of the shark the yolk bag is still attached by the funis. Colone* 

 Morison states that a shark was caught at the Sandheads on the 8th of January 

 last, which when opened was found to contain 17 young ones all marked and spotted 

 like the present specimen, which was one of them, although the mother was of the 

 bluish grey and white color, common to most species of the genus. The Indian 

 Sucking-fish (Echeneis Indica) was found attached to her body. 



Mr. J. T. Pearson exhibited to the Meeting specimens of the larva 



pupa and imago of the Lamia Rubus. Fab. and a log of the horse-radish 



tree, from which he extracted them. 



Mr. Pearson states, that having observed a tree at Eowrah nearly dead from 

 the ravages of insects, he purchased it, and on examination found it pierced in all 

 directions with holes from £ to $ of an inch in diameter, perfectly round, and mora 

 or less filled with a substance resembling coarse saw-dust. These holes were made 

 by the large, long, square-shaped apodal larvae of the Lamia Rubus ; and on the tree 

 being kept about two months, the perfect insects began to appear, which led to an 

 examination of the interior, and the discovery of many specimens in the image state, 

 and that of the pupa exhibited to the Society. Mr. Pearson mentioned, that, as 

 appears by the last part published of the Transactions of the Entomological Society, 

 Capt. W. Saunders, who paid much attention to Indian Entomology, had never 

 sen able to meet with the pupa of Lamia Rubus : therefore it maybe uew to science. 



