birds, comprising a new Tephrodornis, and a Phyllornis which I cannot satisfactorily determine. Ph. Jerdoni is common on the island, and I lately observed this species in considerable abundance in the Midnapore jungles; as also Pynonotus flavirictus, which is another common inhabitant of Ceylon; but neither of them inhabits the valley of the Ganges.* In this collection, I may notice also Parus cinereus, Vieillot (v. atriceps, Horsf.), identical with specimens from Java, the Himalaya, and from central and southern India; and Bucco rubricapillus, Gmelin, distinct from the common B. indicus, and more nearly allied to the Malabar species referred to B. barbiculus, Cuv., in XV, 13, but which I now think distinct, and have termed B. malabaricus. 5. R. W. G. Frith, Esq. A huge specimen of the variety of the common domestic fowl, known as Gallus giganteus; a specific name which, I think, is inadmissible. Also the skull of a Dolphin taken on the voyage out to India, which is all that I have been able to learn of its history. It agrees with the figure of Delphinus delphis, Linn., in the Ossemens Fossiles,' except that there is no trace of lateral constriction towards the base of the upper maxilla, and the teeth exceed fifty on each side above (amounting to fifty-three on the right side), and may be put down as fifty on either side below; this exceeds the extreme number hitherto observed in D. delphis (verus), and in no other species of true Delphinus described by M. Fred. Cuvier, are the teeth nearly so numerous.† 6. C. S. Bonnevie, Esq., of Rungpore. A large collection of Darjeeling birds, from which I have been permitted to select any required for the musuem, and the rest are to be forwarded to that of the Christiania University. Among those selected for our own collection may be mentioned Emberiza pusilla, Tchitrea affinis, Muscicapula McGregoriæ, (Burton,-the female of which is Leiothrix signata, M'Clellaud and Horsfield, and Niltava auricularis, Hodgson), M. sapphira, fœm., Ianthia flavolivacea (p. 133, ante), Pnoëpyga squamata, Tesia cyaniventer (var. auriceps, Hodg., p. 137, ante), T. castaneo-coronata, Culicipeta (seu Abrornis) poliogenys, n. s., Drymoica brevicaudata, n. s., Stachyris ruficeps, n. s., Ixulus occipitalis, Minla cinerea, n. s., Proparus chrysotis (it should be chrysopterus,) m. and f., Myzornis pyrrhoura, Erpornis zantholeuca, and Certhia discolor,-for the most part, particularly five specimens Also a collection of Darjeeling Lepidoptera, from which a few good specimens have been selected. *Oriolus melanocephalus, so very common in Bengal, seems to be equally so in Ceylon, though in most parts of the peninsula of India, I believe it is of rare occurrence. Many other species are equally common in Ceylon and Lower Bengal: and Malacocercus terricolor of Bengal, Assam, Nepal, and Orissa, is barely separable from M. striatus, Sw., of Ceylon. Indeed, coupling it with the fact of the deep colouring of Acridotheres trislis in Ceylon (XV. 314), and that of the representative of Corvus splendens being there black, though differing in no other respect, I question whether we are justified in considering M. terricolor to be really different from M. striatus. + In XV, 368, for“ Delphinorhynchus rostratus, F. Cuv." read "D. frontatus, F. Cuv." The novelties in this collection have been described and are incorporated in the continuation of my paper on New and Little Known Species of Birds.' 8. Mr. T. C. Madge. A specimen of the common hammer-headed Shark of the mouth of the river, Sphyrna Blochii, (Val.), v. Zygena laticeps, Cantor. 9. Lieut. Blagrave, 26th N. I. A few bird skins from the Upper Provinces. 10. W. C. Hurry, Esq. A number of living beetles, which, at this season, are extremely destructive to various flowers, &c., in the gardens around Calcutta. The species is widely distributed over the country, and is nearly allied to the well known Turnip-fly of England (Haltica nemorum); but I have no immediate means of determining it more exactly. Among the few stuffed specimens, will be observed a Monkey from the Cape de Verd Islands (Cercopithecus sabæus): some undescribed Squirrels, and with them the S. tristriatus, Waterhouse, which I found in the vicinity of Midnapore, and have since received from Ceylon; the voice of this little animal being extremely unlike that of Sc. palmarum, which I found inhabiting the same places. Also a new Jungle-fowl, from Ceylon, Gallus lineatus, nobis: and a fine Cobra, 9 feet long, the Hamadryas hannah, Cantor, As. Res. XIX, 87, (1836;) being also the H. ophiophagus, Cantor, P. Z. S. 1838, p. 72, and Naia vittata of Mr. Elliot, Madr. Journ. No. XXVI, 39, as identified by that naturalist with Dr. Cantor's reptile in the following No. of the same Journal, p. 390. March 9th, 1847. E. BLYTH Books received during the month of Feb. for the meeting of the 10th March, 1847. PRESENTED. Meteorological Register for January, 1847.-FROM THE SURVEYOR GENERAL'S OFFICE. Ditto ditto, kept at Kyouk Phyoo during the month of January, 1847.-FROM THE SECRETARY TO THE SUPERINTENDANT OF MARINE. The Horn Book of Storms, for the Indian and China seas, third Edition.-BY H. PIDDINGTON, Esa. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. XVII.-BY THE SOCIETY. Archæologia; Vol 31.—BY THE Society of AntiqUARIES OF LONDON. Historia Abbadidarum; Praemissis Scriptorum Arabum de ea Dynastia Locis nunc. Primum Editis. Auctore R. P. A. Dozy. Vol. Prius.-BY THE CURATORS OF THE ACADEMY OF LEIDEN. The Oriental Christian Spectator, Vol. VIII. No. 2nd.—BY THE EDITOR. R. Griffin & Co.'s Catalogue of Books and Stationary.—BY R. GRIFFIN & Co. Statement of Facts relative to the transactions between the writer and the late British Political Mission to the Court of Shoa, in Abyssinia, by C. T. Beke, Esq.BY THE AUTHOR. A grammar of the Tahitian dialect of the Polynesian Language.-BY THE REV. J. LONG. Biblical and Theological Vocabulary in English and Bengálí.-BY THE SAME. Dr. Carey's grammar of the Burman Language.-BY THE SAME. Bhagavat Gita, textum recensuit at notationes criticas et interpretationem Latinam adjecet G. Schlegel; Editio altra auctior et emendatior cura Christiani Lasseni. -BY THE EDITOR. Kal'ha, Kena, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Aitareya, and Vajsaneya Oopanishads.-BY BABU RAJENDRALAL MITTRA. EXCHANGED. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, Nos. 196-7. PURCHASED. Journal des Savans, Octobre 1846. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, for December, 1846. Regarding Dr. The Lord Bishop having retired and Mr. Bushby taken the chair. Mr. Hume rose and said there was a passage in the report lately published to which he wished to call attention. Cantor's very beautiful drawings, the Secretaries have failed to obtain some essential information, and which they cannot hope for before Mr. Torren's expected visit to Calcutta in the ensuing month. The Committee of Papers confidently hope that in connexion with the Journal nearly the whole of Dr. Cantor's drawings will be published by the Society within a moderate period." He wished to ask if the information alluded to had been obtained. Further, on turning to the accounts he found that 2561 Rs. had already been spent on the Cantor drawings. He supposed that the accounts published with the Report were passed and beyond discussion, but he desired to be informed how many of these drawings were actually completed, and whether vouchers were forthcoming for the sums paid. He wanted a direct answer, a plain yes or no, to these questions. Dr. O'Shaughnessy, (Senior Secretary present) replied that had Mr. Hume given any notice of his intention to ask these questions precise answers would have been in readiness. He regretted Mr. Hume had not started the discussion at the meeting regularly fixed for the consideration of the Report. He objected to Mr. Hume's categorical mode of questioning, as one uncalled for and unnecessary among a Society of gentlemen, whose only desire could be to aid each other in every enquiry calculated for the Society's benefit Dr. O'Shaughnessy proceeded to observe that the accounts were now printed for the first time since 1842. They were printed for general information, and although they had doubtless been submitted to regular meetings every year by his distinguished predecessor, still the Society at large had had no opportunity of examining them, and he considered every item fairly open to investigation. As to the number of Dr. Cantor's drawings completed, he believed it to be 13 or 14. Mr. Muller, the accountant, could say whether vouchers were in existence or not. He however begged permission to disclaim all responsibility for himself or his colleague Mr. Laidlay for any of the expenditure on account of the "Burnes or Cantor drawings," all of which had been entered upon previous to his election, and all further outlay upon which had been stopped on his suggestion, on his taking charge of the office. Mr. Piddington was at the time the executive officer of the Society in the arrangements made, and that gentleman could of course give any explanation required. He had only to add with reference to the intention of the Committee to publish the Cantor drawings in connexion with the Journal, that it was intended that any such cost should be included in the sum of 350 Rs. monthly set apart for that periodical. Mr. Muller stated that on his being appointed accountant in July, in succession to Mr. Bolst, he found the papers of the Society in such confusion that he had the utmost difficulty in bringing them into any order. The vouchers he received were all without number or classification. He could not speak positively as to the existence of vouchers for the payments now under discussion, but at the next meeting he would be prepared with every information on this subject. Mr. Blyth, Curator in the Zoological Department, begged permission to disavow all responsibility regarding the publication of the Burnes' drawings, which he looked upon as equally discreditable as works of art and in a scientific point of view. He had never been consulted as to their publication, although from his office in the Society his advice might have been naturally looked for. Mr. Piddington, on being called upon, said that the history of the Burnes' drawings was, briefly, that being sent to the Society from Government, their publication was determined upon by the Society at a regular meeting, and a Committee named, of which he had been Secretary, to superintend the work, he being at that time only a member and not an officer of the Society. The estimates and report of that Committee were duly sanctioned and approved of by the Society, and reports of progress were from time to time made and confirmed; all of which would be found in the proceedings of those years. The coloured plates were also exhibited with these reports, and unequivocally pronounced to be most creditable to the artists, as exact copies of the drawings, which together with the determination that the whole of the drawings were to be published, and not a selection from them, was the principle adopted by the Committee and confirmed by the Society. Whatever then had been done was the act of the Society and of no one individual. With respect to Dr. Cantor's Chusan drawings, the superintendance of part of these also had fallen under his management when SubSecretary. He was unable to say by what authority this undertaking had been commenced, but he received orders from the late Secretary, Mr. Torrens, to obtain estimates, and no bargain was concluded without his full knowledge and approbation; it being simply his (Mr. Piddington's) duty to carry on the Society's work as ordered by the Secretary. Dr. Cantor, himself a first rate artist, had pronounced his highest approbation of the style in which his work had been so far reproduced as exceeding any thing he supposed could have been done in Calcutta, as had also the late Dr. Griffiths. With respect to the charges, it was impossible for him to do more than to state generally that the colouring of plates of drawings of Natural History, was always most expensive, and that all other accessaries also were required to be of the first rate talent and quality procurable, and to this was to be attributed the high charges for these works, if they really were high, which he did not think they were. As to the gross amount charged in the account, of that he could not speak, having, as he desired expressly to state, no control whatsoever over the expenditure or payment, farther than to audit bills, but the whole of the estimates and every paper connected with these publications had been specially and most carefully made over by him to the late Secretary in March last, and these, together with the accountant's vouchers for payments ought to be forthcoming. The original drawings and sets of the lithographed copies were now produced by the Librarian and handed round for examination of the members. Mr. Hume then observed that examination of the drawings and |