5916 



Zoological Society, 



species from that bird. It may be distinguished al once by having no red on the 

 throat, and a narrower white frontal band than the true leiicocephala, which is from 

 Cuba. M. Salle, who has had ample opportunities of observing this bird in its natu- 

 ral state, is quite confident as to its distinctness. Mr. Sclater proposed to call the 

 San Domingo bird, which has not yet received a specific designation, Chrysolis Sal- 

 laei, as a just tribute to one who has made such extensive discoveries in the Natural 

 History of the New World. 



Mr. Sclater also read a paper on a collection of birds received by M. Salle from 

 Southern Mexico, in which he described a new species of Diplopterus, under the name 

 of D. excellens. The author's attention was called to this bird by M. Jules Verreaux, 

 whose experienced eye is ever active in distinguishing new species. 



At the conclusion of his paper Mr. Sclater observed that M. Salle had, at his 

 request, drawn up a list of birds met with by him in San Domingo, together with 

 some interesting observations on their habits. He had taken some pains in the veri- 

 fication of the nomenclature of M. Salle's list, and added a few observations on the 

 range of the species 



The Secretary read a paper by Sir John Richardson, M.D., F.R.S., on a new spe- 

 cies of Siphonognatbns, which he characterized under the name of S. argyrophanes. 



The Secretary exhibited to the Meeting drawings of the Honduras turkeys, and a 

 pair of very young Pumas now living in the menagerie. 



Tuesday^ November 24. — John Gould, Esq., V.P., in the chair. 



The Chairman called the attention of the Meeting to four new species of rodents 

 from Australia, which he described under the names of Mus assimilis, M. nanus, M. 

 sordidus and M. manicatus. To these interesting species of the mammals of that 

 country a fifth was contributed by Dr. Gray, from the collection made during the ex- 

 pedition under A. C. Gregory, Esq., which he has named Hapalotis heraileucurus. 



The Chairman exhibited an unique Australian bat {Molossus auUrulis) from the 

 museum of the United Service Institution, to which it had been presented, iu 1832, 

 by Major M'Arthur. 



The Secretary read a paper by Dr. Gray on the genus Furcella of Oken. On 

 making an aperture in a perfect specimen of Furcella which recently reached his 

 hands, Dr. Gray found that although the animal had two of the characteristics of the 

 family Teredinidae it wanted the third (the plates within were only the pallets, 

 which are simple and somewhat like those of the more common Teredo norvegica) ; 

 that there were no proper shelly valves, nor even any rudiments of them ; and that 

 the aniu)al forms a genus in that family which has the abnormal character of wanting 

 the true shelly valves which are so universal in the Conchifera. The reason of this 

 absence seems to be explained by the fact that the animal does not require them to 

 protect its head and nervous centre, living as it does in a soft sandy mud ; while they 

 are required in Teredo and the allied genera, which have to bore their way into hard 

 wood or stone to form the hole that is to be lined with the shelly tube. Sir Edward 

 Home, in his ' Lectures,' when describing the animal of Teredo navalis, refers this 

 shelly tube to the genus Teredo, and gives a very good figure of the pallets, or, as he 

 called them, " operculum ;" but he was not aware of the absence of the shelly valve, 

 for he figures what he considers the " boring shell of the same Teredo : " what he has 



