III4 General Notes. | November, 
Reptiles —M. Le Vaillant has described a new species of land 
tortoise, Testudo yniphora, captured in or near the Comoro isles 
by some Arab sailors. Its carapace is highly convex, or hemi- 
spherical, the anterior and posterior apertures but slightly elevated, 
recalling those of 7. radiata. The plastron has a peculiarity 
which enables it to be distinguished at sight from all other 
tortoises, and is the motive of the name given to it. In color the 
back is reddish-yellow with brown on the periphery of the 
plates, while the plastron is pale yellow. 
Mammals.—An example ot Kogia breviceps, the pigmy sperm 
whale, was taken in 1884 at Spring Lake, N. J. This was the 
first time that this rare species had been taken in the Atlantic. 
The specimen, like the majority of those hitherto taken, was a 
female. The Smithsonian Institution has just received a specimen 
of a male of this species, taken at Kittyhawk, N. C. Mr. True 
states that it is about nine feet long and apparently adult. Near 
the anterior end of the upper jaw are four slender curved teeth, 
similar to those of the lower jaw, but smaller. Two teeth are 
said to occur in a similar position in a specimen from India, 
described by Sir R. Owen as Euphysetes simus. The genital 
opening is situated anterior to the line of the front margin of 
the dorsal fin. The stomach contained only the beaks and eyes 
of cuttlefish and a great quantity of nematoid worms. A large 
quantity of cestoids, apparently Phyllobothrium, were found 
encysted in the integuments of the back, especially about the 
dorsal fin——The distribution in height of the mammals around 
Kilimanjaro is interesting. Cercopithecus pygerythrus was foun 
at an elevation of 5000 feet, and the guereza, which is very com- 
mon round the base of the mountain, at 3000 feet; the lion does 
