18 
case of this little snake. The rostral plate, forming the 
snout, turned up like a plowshare ; the body, of nearly 
uniform thickness and covered with closely applied scales, 
as smooth as polished ivory; the tail, short and strong, not 
likely to be caught or broken in passage through the earth ; 
the superior labial plates so greatly inclined backwards that 
the mouth looks downwards and is protected by the shelf- 
like projection above, while the eye and nostril are both 
small and placed far out on the side of the head. The 
whole external form has been wonderfully moulded to a 
subterranean mode of life, and, in fact, the speed with which 
the specimen in the Garden makes its way through the 
loose sand and loam covering the bottom of its cage, is truly 
astonishing. The Society is indebted for this interesting 
specimen, as well as for a number of others from the same 
region, to the interest of one of its corresponding members, 
Mr. Herbert Brown, of Tucson, Arizona. 
37. A specimen of the nutcracker crow (Nucifraga caryo- 
catactes), from northern Europe, was received by purchase 
on the 1st of January. 
38. On the 11th of January three lemurs were purchased? 
forming a most interesting addition to the collection in the 
monkey house. They consist of a male and female black 
lemur (Lemur macaco), the latter being of strikingly differ- 
ent appearance from the male, and closely resembling 
the female figured by Bartlett in Proc : Zool : Society of 
London, 1862, pi., XLI., as L. leucomystax, a form now 
considered by the best authorities to be the female of L. 
macaco. The third specimen, a male, I have not yet been 
able to satisfactorily identify. It appears to correspond 
more closely to L. anjuanoisis of Geoffroy than with any 
other described specimen, and as the latter seems to be re- 
garded as identical with L. brimneus, Van der Hoev. I have 
temporarily assigned it to that species, although differing 
greatly from two of the former which are already in the 
collection. 
39. Two Mexican guans (Ortalida vetula) were received 
from Vera Cruz, on the 16th ; and 
