OCR Text |
Show 1876.] MR. G. E. DOBSON ON THE MOI.OSSI. 701 the Roebuck (Cervus capreolus) in Palestine," Professor Newton observed:- " I write to make a slight correction of a statement published in the last part of the Society's' Proceedings ' (P. Z. S. 1876, p. 421). The remains of the Roe-Deer obtained on Mount Carmel were sent to the Museum of the University of Cambridge by the late Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt-Drake, and not by Dr. Conder (as might be inferred from the Canon's expression); while the species was determined by Mr. J. W . Clark and Sir Victor Brooke, not by me. The remains, I may add, consisted of a nearly perfect skeleton and a damaged skin of a buck." The following papers were read : - 1. Description of a new Species of Indian Snake of the Genus Platyplectrurus from the W y n a d . By Lieut.-Col. BEDDOME, C.M.Z.S. [Eeceived September 2G, 1876.] PLATYPLECTRURUS HEWSTONI, sp. nov. Brownish black above, each scale with an elongated white blotch on each side towards its posterior portion ; belly white, with here and there irregular brown blotches; scales in fifteen rows-abdominals 123 and bifid, subcaudals five pairs (female) ; tail smooth, laterally compressed, ending in a horny smooth scale with a single point; snout rounded, nasals forming a suture behind the rostral; supraorbital shield present; eye small, in a large shield, pupil round ; no postocular; vertical six-sided ; a large temporal shield between the occipitals and the fourth labial ; no median groove. Hab. Manantoddy, in the Wynad, elevation 2700 feet (discovered by Dr. Hewston). 2. A Monograph of the Group Molossi. By G, E. DOBSON, M.A., M.B., F.L.S., &c. [Eeceived October 20, 1876.] The group Molossi was formed by me for the reception of three genera of Emballonuridae-Molossus, Nyctinomus, and Cheiromeles*, which agree together in the possession of certain well-marked natural characters which at the same time distinguish them from all other genera of this family. These genera, especially Molossus and Nyctinomus, or sections of them, have received several different names, * I omit Mormopterus, Ptrs., formerly included by m e (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. xvi. p. 349, 1875) in this group as a distinct genus, as I have lately discovered a species quite intermediate between tbe single representative of Mormopterus and the species of Nyctinomus. The group Molossi corresponds to Prof. Peters's family Molossi (Monatsb. Akad. Berl. 1865, p. 258). |