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Show 1881.] M. TACZANOWSKI ON A N E W WEAZEL FROM PERU. 647 is much more developed and sharp than in the species of Metopidius, where it is small and blunt; so that there is a correlation apparently between a sharp spur and a simple radius, and a blunt spur and flattened radius. In Hydralector gallinacea there is a blunt spur, with, so far as I can make out from a skin, a flattened radius. The " claw " or "spur" of the wing of the Jacanas has, it may be observed, no relation whatever to the " claw " or nail of the pollex, which is also present, though small, in all the three genera I have examined. The " spur," in Parra jacana at least, consists of an external, translucent, yellow epidermic layer, which invests a central core of compact fibrous tissue, this in turn being supported by a bony projection developed at the radial side of the first metacarpal. As regards the position of the Parridae in the group Pluviales, it appears to me that they form a well-marked family, with no very obvious relationships to any of the other families of that group, approaching, however, perhaps most nearly to the Charadriidae, from which they are easily distinguishable by the absence of supraorbital glands and occipital foramina, by their enormously elongated toes, by the number of rectrices, and other points. A brief definition of the Parridae may be given as follows:- Charadriiform birds, with ten rectrices, short caeca, and a tufted oil-gland ; with the ambiens, accessory femoro-caudal, and accessory semitendinosus muscles developed, and with the obturator internus triangular; with a two-notched sternum, and with the digits, including the hallux, greatly developed; with the skull provided with basipterygoid processes, but lacking occipital foramina and supraorbital gland-impressions. 4. Description d'une nouvelle Belette du Perou septentrional. Par L. TACZANOWSKI, C.M.Z.S. [Received April 20, 1881.] MUSTELA JELSKII, n. sp. Minor, castaneo-brunnea, capite oBscuriore; suBtus isaBellina; pedescorpori concolores; cauda corpore paulo Brevior, apice nigra; mystaciBus longissimis. HaB. Peruvia bor. orient. Pn exemplaire d'une Belette pris par M . Jelski a Cutervo, au nord-est du Perou, et depose au Musee de Varsovie, voisin de la M. macroura, mais beaucoup plus petit, n'atteignant pas les dimensions de la M. erminea d'Europe, me semble appartenir a une forme inedite. Cet individu me parait etre adulte, car ses dents sont fort usees et le squelette fort durci. La couleur generale est brune avec une nuance marron plus faible que dans la M. macroura, a tete distinctement plus foncee; celle de la moitie basale de la queue est analogue a celle du corps, passant ensuite en une legere teinte distinctement plus jaunatre, 1'extre'mite meme est d'un noir brunatre sur l'espace d'un pouce et demi. Les |