XII 
A Mammifer of the Rodent order, and which was 
supposed to be an Otter escaped from a vessel in the Port, 
which had arrived from Buenos- Ayres, it swam across 
the harbour, and on reaching land, it was mistaken for 
an enormous rat by the boatmen on the Quay, and imme- 
diately killed. 
fhe skin was sent to the Museum by Col. Pike. 
Ihe animal is figured in the Encyclopedic d’Histoire 
Naturelle de Chenu ’’—and was discovered by Commcrson 
a long time. It is the Myopotamus Coypus of Geoff. St. 
Hilaire, living in the boarders of rivers in a great part of 
South America. 
Dr A. Edwards has supplied us with information 
respecting a tortoise found in one of the gutters of the 
town, and which is pretty numerous in the marshes of 
.Beau Plan, in the district of Pamplemousses. 
According to Dr. Edwards’ description, the shell of this 
tortoise is divided into two folds by a moveable joint, 
enabling them entirely to close the shell when they have 
drawn their head and their limbs into it Some have two 
folds equally moveable ; in others the anterior fold only 
is moveable The specimen just mentioned belongs to the 
latter division. But the genus and species could not be 
determined. 
Dr. A. Edwards also presented a specimen of Gallena 
or ■ ‘ Sulphate ot lead ’ found, he says, at Rodrigues. It 
is formed in cubic crystals, “and was analysed by the Dr. 
himself with the assistance of Mr. J. Baissac, pharma- 
copolist. 
According to Beudant, the deposits of ballena are 
abundant, but unequally distributed over the surface of the 
globe. 
The mines which arc worked in England, principally 
in Derbyshire and Northumberland, produce annually 
an average of more than £100,000 being more than the 
half of the production of Europe. 
