Contributions to the Natural History of Old Calabar. 159 



Delphinus (sp. ?) 



Mr Oliphant has received the head of a species of dolphin. 



Bhinomus soricoides. — (Nov. Gen., Nov. Sp. V) — Murr. 



This is a very puzzling little animal. It has the appear- 

 ance of a shrew, with its long snout, but is in reality a mouse. 

 Its dentition is somewhat peculiar, the incisors having a pro- 

 cess behind them, like the cusp of a carnivorous tooth. It is 

 pentadactylous both before and behind, and as all the allied 

 genera and species have four fingers before and five behind, 

 Mr Murray considered that there was no alternative but to 

 make a new genus for its reception, and in reference to its 

 long snout, he proposed the above name for it. 



It is mouse-coloured, with ear and tail. 



IV. On the Challc Flints of the Island of Stroma, and Vicinity of 

 John o 1 Groat's, in the County of Caithness. By Charles W. Peach, 

 Esq., Wick. 



Notices of the occurrence of chalk flints in the boulder clay 

 of Caithness have from time to time appeared in various pub- 

 lications. Many of the localities I have been able to verify, 

 and to add new ones as well. Knowing the interest attaching 

 to their presence so far north, and not being able to find any 

 account in any work that I have access to of their having 

 been found on the surface of the land, the intent of this 

 communication is to show that I have been fortunate enough 

 to make that discovery. 



On the 5th instant I had to go to the island of Stroma on 

 business. When walking across the north side of it, I was 

 somewhat surprised to find chalk flints in considerable abun- 

 dance on the surface there. This part of the island is stripped 

 of its turfy covering, and is consequently favourable for obser- 

 vation. Wherever I went, even on ploughed land, and where 

 the short vegetation was not too thick, I met with the flints. 

 They vary in size from that of a boy's marble to eight or ten 

 inches over, and are generally of a light colour. Some con- 

 tain sponges ; in most of them spicula may be seen in thin 

 splinters, which I chipped off, and in one piece I observed 

 those hollow and branched spicula with the small ball-like 



