1842.] Asiatic Society. 887 



*P. ? New species. Allied to the last, but smaller, and otherwise differing. 



Gallinula chloropus (?J, var. Indicus ; male, sent as G. akool, Sykes. This bird 

 is common enough in the vicinity of Calcutta; and it appears to me, judging from 

 memory, to be constantly inferior in size to the British species. As in the latter, 

 the female is larger and much finer-coloured than the male. A handsome adult 

 female measured twelve inches and a quarter long, by nineteen inches and a half 

 in spread of wing : in Dr. Fleming's ' British Animals', the dimensions of the Eu- 

 ropean bird are given as — "Length fourteen inches; breadth twenty-two inches" ; 

 but Mr. Jenyns assigns only thirteen inches by twenty inches and three-quarters, 

 which are probably the admeasurements of the European male bird. In other res- 

 pects there appears to be no difference whatever. 



Machetes pugnax ; sent as Tringa Hardwickii, Gray, which is evidently the Ruff 

 in winter dress, as T. Indica, Gray, is the female or Reeve. 



*Charadrius russatus, Jerdon. 



*Strepsilas interpres. 



From the Barrackpore Menagerie, we have received a specimen of a young Sambur 

 Deer (Cervus hippelaphus ) . 



I now proceed to describe the small Bootan Squirrel, which has been already men- 

 tioned (p. 880) as being nearly allied to Sciurus insignis, Horsfield, and to the 

 Neilghierry Sc. Delesserti. 



Sc. Pembertonii, Nobis. Total length nine inches, of which the tail with its hair 

 measures four inches; tarsus, to end of claw of longest toe, an inch and one-eighth. 

 General hue of the fur dull brownfth-fulvous, grizzled with black, and slaty-black at 

 base; under-parts albescent-brown : a black stripe on the nose, anterior to the whiskers 

 which are also black ; another black mesial stripe commences between the shoulders, 

 and is continued to the croup, besides which is a narrow lateral black stripe, adjoining 

 a broader pale fulvous one external to it, which commences on the side of the neck, 

 and is continued to that of the base of the tail, becoming narrow over the croup : the 

 ears are rather small, and are lined internally with minute close fulvous-white hairs ; 

 their edges are black ; and the fur outside the ears is longer, and terminates in a white 

 tuft which shews conspicuously, contrasting with the black edge of the ear : the tail is 

 grizzled nearly like the back, but black predominates on its upper surface, and ful- 

 vous on the lower : orbits fulvous ; and feet coloured like the sides. 



I may also here describe another small rodent, presumed to be from the Himalaya, 

 which I shall designate 



Georychus fuscocapillus, (vide J. A. S. X, 928), or Dusky-capped Lemming. 

 Length about four inches, exclusive of the tail which measures a quarter of an inch, or 

 with its hair half an inch : tarse, to end of claw of longest toe, seven-eighths of an inch. 

 Ear-conch very minute, and concealed underneath the fur : the latter is of an Isabella 

 colour at the surface, or nearly that of Bathyergus maritimus, but slaty-black for the 

 basal two-thirds; the upper part of the face and head being dusky brownish-black, 

 which gradually passes into the hue of the body : whiskers reaching to the ears, a few 

 of the anterior being whitish, and the rest dusky. The rodential tusks of this species 

 are pure white, and the upper pair project very remarkably forward. 



Having taken a fortnight's excursion up the river since our last Meeting, and gone 

 much on shore to observe and collect whatever fell in my way, a few remarks on the 



