lic works, such as quays, docks, basins, or breakwaters, intended to last for centuries, the importance of considering whether limestone of any kind should be employed in such structures below the ordinary level of low water at spring tides.

Notice of Sections of the Railway between Bristol and Bath, a distance of twelve miles, prepared by direction of a Committee of the British Association. By WILLIAM SANDERS, F.G.S.

The first was in length thirty-six feet, being at the rate of three feet to the mile. The others were enlarged sections of four portions of the railway, made on the scale of forty feet to one inch. One of these represented a cutting one mile in length at Saltford, through the successive strata of the lias formation. This cutting was described by detailed sections on the scale of four feet to the inch; each bed is noticed with, as far as possible, its included organic remains. The subdivisions are, the upper marl upon upper and lower blue limestones fifty-eight feet, white limestones twenty-four feet, and lower marl twenty-seven feet; which latter were shown, by means of sinking a pit, to rest upon new red marls. Drawings of certain fossils were added. Three other enlarged views of the Pennant strata were given, with further details, in sections on a scale varying from twenty to ten feet to the inch. Drift beds were noticed containing water-worn fragments of sandstone, broken stems of plants (Sigillaria and Lepidodendron), with rolled pieces of perfectly formed coal; also conglomerates of broken coal. Drawings were made of two large Sigillariæ taking origin in a bed of coal; and a portion of two large slabs of the Pennant sandstone, showing very regular ripple-marks. Various other geological phænomena deemed worthy of attention were displayed on the sections.

Notice of Sections of the Railways between Glasgow and Greenock, and Greenock and Ayr, prepared by direction of a Committee of the British Association. By JOHN CRAIG.

A Letter was read from T. B. JORDAN, of the Museum of Economic Geology, On Copying Fossils by a Galvanic Deposit.'

In applying the method ordinarily used in electrotyping, some difficulty was experienced by the author in consequence of the irregular form of the fossils, parts of which would not relieve from the wax or plaster matrix in which the copper is afterwards deposited. Mr. Jordan therefore adopted a compound of glue and treacle (used by printers for their inking-rollers) as the material of the moulds, the elasticity of which admitted of its leaving the adherent portions without breaking. The mixture is applied hot, and allowed to harden for twenty-four hours, when it will come off without injuring the finest parts. The matrix thus prepared requires a strong varnish to protect the back and sides from the action of the liquid in which it is to be placed, and only one copy can be made from each matrix; but the impressions have none of the defects so apparent in those produced in the ordinary moulds. Different lights and shades may be given to the copper impressions by a galvanic process, which the author considers capable of improvement and application to other purposes. For a dark object on a light ground the surface is brushed over with the argento-cyanide of potassium, giving it a silver face, which may be removed to the desired extent from the portions requiring to be dark, by a dilute solution of nitro-muriate of platina. Other tints may be produced by using a solution of gold; and all may be considerably varied by changing the time during which each solution is allowed to act.[Specimens of the electrotype copies of Trilobites and other fossils were exhibited.]

Notice of Models for Illustration of the Succession and Dislocations of Strata, Mineral Veins, &c., constructed by T. Sopwith, F.G.S. By the Rev. Dr. BUCKLAND.

Major S. Clerke called attention to the Atlas of Sieges and Battles in the Peninsula,' published by Mr. Wylde, and constructed from original sketches taken under the direction of Sir George Murray, by Sir Thomas Mitchell, now Surveyor-general of New

South Wales. Major Clerke explained the origin and character of these plates, which he designated as a noble specimen of military topography.

Mr. H. E. Strickland communicated to the Section a map of Santorin, about to be published by Prof. Ritter of Berlin. It is engraved from a survey of the island made by Capt. Gineste, officer of the French expedition in Northern Greece.

ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY.

On the Zoology of the County of Cornwall. By JONATHAN COUCH, F.L.S.,&c.

Of the fourteen or fifteen species of Cheiroptera enumerated as British by Mr. Bell, six are included in the Cornish fauna, and one more (V. discolor) has been found at no greater distance than Plymouth. Of the remainder, eight are too limited, in numbers and distribution, to enter into a calculation of comparison with other parts of the kingdom. The commonest of the Cornish Bats are, the Pipistrelle, Lesser Horse-shoe, and Long-eared, in the order in which they are enumerated; but their local occurrence depends more on the accident of their meeting with congenial haunts, than on the mere influence of climate. The latter circumstance, however, produces its effect on the habits of these animals; so that in Cornwall, where what may be denominated severely cold winters do not occur more frequently than in cycles of six or eight years, the appearance of the bat may be witnessed in every week in an ordinary year. A fall below the 40th degree of the thermometer is the signal for their retreat; but a slight change to a milder temperature restores them to activity, when not uncommonly they may be seen at midday in search of prey, which might not be obtained at the more usual hours of the evening.

It may be regarded as another proof of the mildness of the climate, that the Longtailed Field Mouse (Mus sylvaticus) breeds at Christmas, or the very beginning of January, forming its nest at this time in ricks of hay. The frog also is rarely later than this period in depositing its spawn.

Of the genus Sorex, Cornwall possesses three species, sufficiently distinguished. These are, Sorex araneus, Jenyns, in the Mag. of Zoology, vol. ii.: the front teeth of a deep brown through most of their length, Bell's Br. Q., p. 109. Another species, S. araneus of Duvernoy and Jenyns, Mag. Zool. vol. ii. f. 1.: the snout not so long as in the S. araneus of English authors; the teeth brown only at the tips of the lower front teeth and of the molars. A third is referred to S. Fodiens of Bell, S. bicolor of Jenyns, Mag. Zool, vol. ii. p. 37, but differing in some particulars; more especially in having the under front teeth purely white, the upper slightly coloured. Of birds, there are known in Cornwall 243 species; of fishes, 173; of stalk-eyed Crustaceans, 67.

The additions to the zoology of the West of England which this enumeration implies, with those belonging to the radiate animals, will be given in a second part of the Cornish fauna, now proceeding through the press.

On the Distribution, &c. of the Mammals of Devonshire. By J. C. BELLAMY.

The author exhibited a drawing of the palate of an individual of Balanoptera minor (Knox), taken off Plymouth, and showed a portion of the baleine, and a part of the ear of that animal. He showed a new species of Vole, taken at Yealmpton. He also displayed a tooth of an extinct species of elephant, from the Yealm Bridge cavern; a species of Asterias unknown to him; a species of Helix new to the British isles; some Helices from the Yealm Bridge cave (proving their modern date); the skull of Arvicola agrestis, having teeth with fangs, instead of the common fluted condition; and several curious relics of Arvicolæ, birds, fish, &c. from the cavern of Yealm Bridge, which he discovered.

On the Geographical Distribution of the Animals of New Holland. By JOHN EDWARD GRAY, F.R.Š.

"If in our collection and catalogues we were to mark all the species found in Europe as coming from England, we should be nearly as correct as we are at present in the

determination of the localities of the Australian animals, for almost all the specimens are marked as coming from New Holland. This is not only the case with the specimens contained in the museums, but also with respect to the observations of some recent voyagers. Having recently received at the British Museum a complete series of all the Mammalia collected by Mr. Gould during his visit to Australia, and of those sent from his collector, Mr. Gilbert, from Western Australia, all the specimens of which were marked at the time they were collected, I have been induced to draw up a few remarks on the geographical distribution of these animals. From these materials, and others at my command, I believe there are at present known ninety species of Mammalia found in Australia, belonging to thirty-six genera: of these, seventy-seven species, belonging to twenty-one genera, are marsupial, three species and two genera are monotrematous, and twenty-three species and twelve genera are non-marsupial; eight of these twenty-three species and four genera are Bats belonging to the order Primates; two species belonging to two genera of Fera or carnivorous beasts, as the Dog and the Seal; and the remaining eleven species, referable to four genera, are Mice belonging to the Glires, and two to Ceta, or Whales. Of these thirty-three genera found in Australia, seven, as Charopus, Acrobates, Petaurista, Lagochestes, Phascolarctos, Pseudomys, and Harpalotis, are peculiar to New South Wales. Petaurus might be placed in the same group; but a single species is also found in Norfolk Island, where it is the only known beast. It is by some supposed to have been introduced from Sidney, especially as it is not found in Van Diemen's Land. The genera Bettongia and Petrogale are only found in New South Wales, South Australia, and the north coast; and the genus Myrmecobius is peculiar to Western Australia; so that these ten genera are peculiar to the Australian continent. The genera Thylacinus, Diabolus, and Dromicea are peculiar to Van Diemen's Land. The genera Dasyurus and Perameles are common to Van Diemen's Land and the continent, but much more abundant in the former. The genera Nyctophilus, Phalangista, Phascogale, Hepoona, Macropus, Halmaturus, Hypsiprymnus, and Hydromys, appear to be common to the continent of Australia and Van Diemen's Land, as also appears to be the case with the genera Echidna and Ornithorhynchus; but the two latter genera have not yet been discovered in South Australia. There are some species found in Australia which belong to genera, as Pteropus and Rhinolophus, which are found in different parts of the Old World; and others, as Canis, Mus, Scotophilus, and Molossus, which are common to it and both hemispheres. One genus, Halmaturus, has a species found in New Guinea; but most probably, when this species has been more carefully examined, it will be found to form a peculiar genus allied to the Australian one, as is the case with the tree Kangaroos (Dendrolagus) and the Phalangers (Cuscus) of that country; and is also probably the case with the Perameles, said to be found in New Guinea. If we examine the distribution of these ninety-seven species over the different parts of the country, we shall find that sixty species inhabit New South Wales, of which forty-five are peculiar to it, and fifteen common to it and other parts of the country. Eighteen species inhabit South Australia; six are peculiar, and twelve common to other parts. Twenty species inhabit Western Australia; twelve peculiar, and eight common. Six species inhabit the north-west coast, all of which are peculiar to it. Three species inhabit the north coast, two of which have not been found elsewhere. Twenty-two species are found in Van Diemen's Land; eleven only are found in this country, and eleven common to it and the continent. One species is found in Norfolk Island, which is also found in New South Wales, but not in Van Diemen's Land. The species peculiar to the northwest coast are Macropus unguifer, Halmaturus Bennettii, H. fasciatus, Petrogalea brachyota, Hyp. Lesuerii; to South Australia, Phascogalea rufogaster, Macropus fuliginosus, Halmaturus Derbianus, Bettongia Grayii, Mus Grayii, and M. Adelaidensis ; to Western Australia, Myrmecobius fasciatus, Phascogalea leucogaster, Perameles fuscoventer, P. obesula and P. Lagotis, Halmaturus brevicaudatus, Petrogalea lateralis, Hypsiprymnus Gilbertii, Bettongia Ogilbii. Macropus laniger and Mus lutreola are peculiar, as being common to the east and south sides of the continent. Scotophilus Australis, Hydromys chrysogaster, Phalangister Vulpina, and Hepoona Cookii, have the largest range, as they are common to the south, west, and east sides of the continent; and the two latter are also found in Van Diemen's Land *."

* Mr. Gray has given a more detailed paper on this subject in the Appendix to Capt. G. Grey's Journal of two Expeditions of Discovery in Australia, 1841.

On a New Glirine Animal from Mexico. By J. E. GRAY, F.R.S. The British Museum having lately received from Mr. John Phillips, of the Reale del Monte Mining Company, a new glirine animal, which he brought from Mexico, I am desirous of mentioning it before this meeting, not only on account of its being new to our zoological catalogues, but also because it illustrates two interesting facts, one in the geographical distribution of animals, and the other of certain genera being represented in different parts of the world by animals very similar in external appearance, but yet possessing peculiar characters adapting them to their different localities.

The animal before us is peculiar for having large cheek-pouches, which open externally on the sides of the cheek. This conformation has only hitherto been ob served in four genera of glirine animals, which exclusively inhabit the northern half of the American Continent, as the genera Saccophorus, Saccomys, Anthomys, and Heteromys. These cheek-pouches are used by the animals to carry their food, as the Monkeys of the Old World use their internal pouches which are found between their cheeks and the mouths. The first of these genera has been long known; and it has been believed that their cheek-pouches hung out of the side of the cheek-like pockets; but this does not appear to be the case with the genus under consideration, or with Anthomys, which was so called because M. F. Cuvier found their cheek-pouches filled with flowers.

If it was not for these cheek-pouches, the animal before us might be taken for a Jerboa (Dipus), with which it perfectly agrees in the softness and colour of the fur, and in the length of the hind legs and the tail, which has a brush at the end, so that it may be at once distinguished from the other American genera above enumerated, which either have an elongated scaly tail like a rat, or a very short one like a lemming. I am therefore inclined to consider this animal as the American representative of the genus Jerboa (Dipus), which is confined to the more temperate part of Africa, as the genus Harpalotis is the representative of the same genus in Australia. This combination of the forms and colour with the Jerboa, and with the external cheek-pouches of the pouched rat, at once marks this animal as a new genus, which I propose to call Dipodomys, or Jerboa Rat, designating the species after its discoverer, Dipodomys Phillipii.

Mr. Gray exhibited a skin of glove leather from Sweden, prepared from the skin of the fœtal Rein-deer by tanning with birch bark.

Account of a Thylacinus, the great Dog-headed Opossum, one of the rarest and largest of the Marsupiate family of Animals. By Professor Owen.

At the present day this animal exists only in Van Diemen's Land, though formerly it had a much more extensive geographical distribution. For his knowledge of the anatomy of this animal, Mr. Owen stated that he was indebted to Sir John Franklin, who had kindly preserved and sent him a specimen in spirit, and he believed this was the only specimen extant in Europe. In its habits it was carnivorous; holding about the same relation to the other Marsupialia that the digitigrade Carnivora did to the placental Mammalia. It was a great pest to the shepherd in its native districts; and in its low intellectual character, and its craft and cunning, very much resembled the wolf. In destroying sheep it does not feed on them at once, but proceeds to worry, if possible, the whole flock, first tearing one and then another. Its smell is very powerful. It has a narrow head, a large number of incisor teeth, with the molars more numerous and uniform in size and shape than in the wolf. The incisors are of equal length and regularly arranged in the segment of a circle, with an interspace in the middle of the series of both jaws. The external incisors on each side are the strongest. The laniary or canine teeth are long, strong, curved and pointed, like those of the dog tribe. The spurious molars in this, as in all other Marsupials, have two roots; their crown presents a simple compressed conical form, with a posterior tubercle, which is most developed in the hindmost. The true molars in the upper jaw are unequally triangular, the last being much smaller than the rest; the exterior part of the crown is raised into one large pointed middle cusp and two lateral smaller cusps obscurely developed; a small strong obtuse cusp projects from the inner side of the crown. The molars of the lower jaw are compressed, tricuspidate, the middle cusp being the longest, especially in the two last molars, which resemble closely the sectorial teeth (dents carnassiers) of the dog and cat. The fol

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lowing is the dental formula of the Thylacinus :-incisors canines; premolars; molars; 46. Its bony palate is very defective, thus presenting a lower organization than any of the Carnivora of Europe. Its internal organization agrees with that of Dasyurus and Phascogale, being, as in these carnivorous Marsupials, destitute of a cæcum: it differs from Dasyurus and resembles Phascogale in having the internal condyle of the humerus perforated. It has the pouch so decidedly characteristic of the whole order of these animals. The reason of the existence of this pouch may be to enable the animal to carry its young great distances more easily, as it was obliged to travel far, in seasons of drought, in search of water. The pouch is usually limited to the female; but in Thylacinus a rudiment of the pouch exists in the fullgrown male.

Notices and Drawings of three new Genera of Marine Fishes from Van Diemen's Land. By J. RICHARDSON, M.D., F.R.S.

1st. Nemadactylus, or Thread-finger. This acanthopterygian genus agrees with Cheilodactylus in the lower rays of the pectoral fin being simple, with one prolonged beyond the others, and in the general form of the body; but differs from the percoid family in general in the perfectly unarmed gill-covers, feeble dentition, and scomberoid character of all the scales below the lateral line. The fauces, palate and tongue are smooth, the margin of the mouth exhibiting a single row of slender minute teeth. The intermaxillary pedicles are short, the gill-rays only three; the pyloric cæca likewise three, and the spinal vertebræ thirty-four. The only species known is named N. concinnus, and but one specimen was obtained. Length 34 inches. Its stomach contained fragments of malacostraca.

2nd. Latris has a monoid aspect, but differs from the rest of that group in the inferior half of the pectoral rays being simple, and in the combination of certain characters, which, though existing, and indeed rather characteristic of the family, are not all found in any one genus. It is most nearly allied to Cheilodactylus. The species described is named Latris hecateia, or Six-banded Trumpeter. Two species of this genus appear to be represented in Nos. 204, 205, and 209 of the drawings made on Cook's second voyage at New Zealand: they bear the MS. names of Sciena lineata and Sciana ciliaris. The drawings do not exhibit the structure of the pectorals distinctly, yet the other details are so correct, that there seems to be no reason for doubting their position in the genus Latris. Sciana lineata has the precise markings of L. hecateia, the species described in this paper, and may be identical with it. The Van Diemen's Land fish is named the Trumpeter by the colonists, and is esteemed as their best fish. The figure 205 above referred to has the word "sapidissimus” written beneath it in Forster's hand.

3rd. Hoplegnathus, a scaroid fish, departing greatly from the usual aspect of the fish of this family. In dentition and form of the jaws this genus approaches more nearly to the typical Scari than to Odax. But the scales of the body are small, the bases of the vertical fins are densely scaly, with fillets of minute scales stretching up between the rays. The spinous rays are very unlike the flexible ones of Odax, being stronger than is usual even in Scarus, and the lateral line is continuous. This fish was brought to England by the surgeon of a convict ship, but as he is since dead, the locality in which it was taken cannot be now ascertained.

Full descriptions, with figures of these fish, are to be published in the forthcoming volume of the Transactions of the Zoological Society.

On the Habits of the Eel, and on the Freshwater Fish of Austria.

Captain WIDDRINGTON, R.N.

By

The author stated that his attention was drawn to the subject by a remark of Mr. Yarrell in his work on British Fishes, in which he ascribes the deficiency of eels in the Danube to the excessive susceptibility of the eel to cold. The author had seen eels at Wurzburg on the Mayn, where the average degree of cold is quite as great as that of the Danube. They also exist in the Elbe, at a point where that river would also be colder than the Danube. They exist undoubtedly in the higher branches of the Danube, but not in the delta. This, the author thinks, may be ascribed to the nature of many of the waters which fall into the Danube, which, being alpine in their