OCR Text |
Show 540 ON HERPESTES FERRUGINEUS AND OVIS POLII. [Nov. 2, " Tentacles two, long, subulate or filiform, bearing the eyes on their outer side near the base. " Foot much expanded in front and rounded, gradually attenuated posteriorly and caudated. " Beptation not by alternate movements of right and left sides, but by uniform, undulating, progressive motion of the foot on the sides of the vessel in which it was captive. " It moved also in an inverted position along the surface of the water, as Planorbis and Lymneea do," as does also Diala picta. Notwithstanding this species does not altogether agree with Diala, both as regards the shell and animal (that is, of D.picta), I deem it unadvisable at present to form a distinct subgenus for its reception. The differences in the shell consist in the columella being more arcuate than is usual, and the aperture more than ordinarily acumi-nately effuse at the base. The animal varies from that of D. picta in having the tentacles of equal (and not unequal) length, the foot not auriculate, and in the four long tentacular filaments attached to the operculigerous lobe being wanting. These peculiarities in the animals certainly appear to be sufficient to dissociate them ; but until more complete and accurate investigations have been made on these and other species of this genus, I shall refrain from adding to the already superfluous number of genera one so ill defined. 4. Notes on the Figures of Herpestes ferrugineus and Ovis polii. By W . T. B L A N F O R D , F.Z.S. [Received July 5, 1875.] In the plate of Herpestes ferrugineus published in the ' Proceedings ' for 1874 (plate lxxxi.) there is a slight error, to which, however, it is as well to call attention. The animal is represented on a tree. Now all the Indian and African species of Mungoose with which I am acquainted (H. griseus, H. malaccensis, H. persicus, and others) are thoroughly terrestrial in their habits, and rarely, if ever, climb trees. The plate was, of course, drawn after I left England, and is, I think, a good representation of the animal. There are, however, some very serious errors in the figure of Ovis polii* (pl. liii.). 1 have examined a series of skins brought from Kashgar ; and I find that none possesses a trace of the mane along the neck, represented in both sexes in the plate; there is some long hair behind the horns, and a little between the shoulders, but none on the back of the neck. In the plate, too, the male standing up has a long busby tail, and the female lying down has a black line down the back. Both these peculiarities, I regret to say, are due to the artist: the animal has really a very short tail, so short that iu life it can * I think this, and not 0. poli, is the correct mode of spelling this animal's name. |