Solenodon paradoxus of Brandt. The differences were pointed out at a meeting of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin shortly afterwards, and it was proposed to bestow upon the new species the name of Solenodon cubanus.

In the Memoir of which we have given the title above, Dr. Peters having obtained from St. Petersburg the loan of the original example of S. paradoxus, enters at length into the character of the new species, and its comparison with the former. The diagnoses of the two animals are given as follows :—

I. Solenodon paradoxus, ex. Hayti.

8. supra fuscus vel nigro-fuscus, lateribus, gastræo, pedibusque, ochraceis; pilis incumbentibus.

II. Solenodon cubanus, ex Cuba.

S. capite, collo, pectore, gastræi lateribus, fulvis vel dilute ochraceis; corpore reliquo, stria longitudinali nuchae abdominisque fuscis, vel nigro-fuscis; pilis longissimis villosis.

The dentition of the new species agrees with that of the original, being, according to the amended account of Dr. Peters

3-4, 1, 1-2, 1, 43-40

4 3

=

We need not follow Dr. Peters into his minute and exhaustive description of the osteology and anatomy of this rare animal, which is illustrated by several admirably executed lithographs. As regards its systematic position, Solenodon appears to present various points of alliance with Scalops, Centetes, Sorex, and Myogale, and in some respects even with Erinaceus. But, on the whole, Dr. Peters is of opinion, that it must be placed in the same group as the Madagascar genera Centetes, Ericulus, and Echinogale. This is, indeed, a most remarkable fact in geographical distribution, which, however, is paralleled by certain other instances mentioned by Dr. Peters. Madagascar is the only land where, if we except the Brachylophus fasciatus of the Feejees, Iguanoid lizards occur out of America, and the same island alone in the old world, furnishes representatives of the American colubrine forms Xiphosoma and Heterodon.

Dr. Peters terminates this able essay with the following proposed re-arrangement of the order Insectivora, founded chiefly on anatomical considerations ::-

A. Alimentary canal with a large cœcum.

a. leg-bones separate; jugum perfect.
a Ulna imperfect.

B. Alimentary canal without a cœcum.

a. leg-bones separate: no jugum: no bulla ossea: os typanicum annular.

IV. CENTETINA.

1. Solenodon, Brandt.

2. Centetes, Illiger.

? 3. Ericulus, Is. Geoffr.

? 4. Echinogale, Martin.

b. leg-bones separate, jugum present.

a Ears well developed: bulla ossea more or less developed cranium completely ossified.

:

V. ERINACEI.

1. Erinaceus, Linn.

2. Gymnura, Vig. and Horsf.

Ears shortened or wanting.

VI. TALPINA.

1. Myogale, Cuv.
2. Urotrichus, Temm.
3. Condylura, Ill.

4. Scalops, Cuv.

5. Talpa, Linn.

6. Chrysochloris, Lacépede.

c. leg-bones coalesced: no jugum: cranium membranaceous

at the base: os typaminicum annular.

VII. SORICES.

1. Sorex, Linn.

29

IV.-HAAST ON RECENT DISCOVERIES IN NEW ZEALAND. MR. JULIUS HAAST, the Government Geologist of the Province of Canterbury, New Zealand, whose name is already well known in connection with the progress of scientific exploration in that country,* has sent to this country copies of a very able and eloquent address, lately delivered by him at the inaugural dinner of the new Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, of which he has been elected the first President. Several facts stated by Mr. Haast in the course of this address are, we believe, novel, and will doubtless interest our readers.

The first passage we extract gives some information as to the latest geological discoveries in New Zealand.

"Very little had been done in Palæontology before the arrival of the Novara. The extensive collection of fossils made, in both Islands, during the stay of Dr. Hochstetter, has proved that there are fossils of great antiquity, but with the exception of exuvia of the Devonian age near Richmond (Nelson), and of secondary age in the Aotea harbour (Auckland), all the fossils then obtained were of the tertiary age, though of three distinct periods.

"Since then I have discovered, in the extensive coal fields of the West Coast, fossils which, although not numerous, evidently belong either to the Oolitic or Wealden formations. The existence of extensive strata at the base of the Southern Alps, ascertained by me, during my recent surveys, to be replete with fossils, nearly if not actually identical with those of the Australian coal fields, appeared to indicate that the fauna was of lower carboniferous or upper Devonian age, whilst the flora had quite an oolitic character; and although the interval between the ages of these formations is enormous the lithological character and position of both beds is simil r, and I hope to be able to show that they are not only conformable to each other, but that they follow each other in sequence. This question has already given rise to discussion amongst some of the most distinguished geologists and paleontologists. Fossil bones, too, have been discovered in the Waipara, from which Professor Richard Owen has constructed the Plesiosaurus australis, which

See Mr. Haast's "Report of a Topographical and Geological Exploration of the Western Districts of the Nelson Province, New Zealand, undertaken for the Provincial Government." Nelson, 1861.

according to this illustrious palæontologist's opinion was of oolitic or liassic age, and consequently contemporary with, or older than those strata which exhibit an apparently oolitic flora. I think investigations will show, that these liassic or oolitic strata lie unconformably on the former named beds, and that therefore, it will be impossible to classify the fossil flora with that which occupies a similar geological position in the European strata. As there are even more perplexing anomalies observed in the European Alps, of which Scipio Gras has given us some striking instances, it would be rash to come to any positive conclusions before this important subject, affecting as it does the very first principles of paleontology, has been studied more closely."

With regard to recent discoveries in the Zoology of New Zealand, Mr. Haast speaks as follows:

"Since the publication of Dr. Dieffenbach's work, in which Dr. Gray of the British Museum collected all that was then known of the New Zealand Fauna, little has been done in Zoological research, although many highly interesting animal forms have been discovered and described, in detached scientific papers, not obtainable in the Colony. Concerning the quadrupeds, I may state that Mr. Walter Mantell was the first to call attention to the fact, that we possess an indigenous quadruped, called by the natives" Kaureke,” from the description of which he inferred it to be either a badger or an otter. Although I have not seen the animal in question, certain tracks observed by me upon the mud flats near the sources of the river Ashburton, and which exactly resembled those of the Otter of Europe, afford additional evidence that such an animal still exists in our Alpine lakes and rivers. Traces of a quadruped of smaller size, of nocturnal habits, the stride of which was between seven and eight inches, indicating that its mode of progression was by jumps or springs, were also discovered by me in the river bed of the Hopkins, the stream which forms Lake Ohou; and as there is every reason to believe that this animal still exists in great numbers, hundreds of tracks having been formed in one night in the fresh fallen snow, we may hope that some specimens of this entirely unknown quadruped will yet be obtained."

After alluding to the supposed existence of the "Roa," or so-called Apteryx maxima, of which he had noticed the tracks, as described in a former volume of this Journal,* Mr. Haast goes on to say

• Nat. Hist. Rev. i. p. 507.

"Perhaps some naturalists will not agree with me when I express my belief, from auricular evidence only it is true, that a still larger Kiwi must exist in the extensive Fagus forests which cover the mountain sides of the Southern Alps. I first heard this bird when camped at the foot of Naumanu range, and the call of the bird was so loud, that it instantly woke all my party, although very tired after a long day's journey. It was the same call as that of the Roa, but much louder and deeper; and it is not beyond possibility that specimens of Palapteryx ingens (which in fact is only a large Kiwi), may still exist in those vast forests hitherto untrodden by the foot of man."

We had always supposed that before the arrival of the Maories the New Zealand Islands were unoccupied by mankind, but Mr. Haast tells us "it is almost certain from recent discoveries in the Wellington Province, that, long before the Maories landed, some other prehistoric people lived there, or at least had visited the Islands. This is proved by the discovery of stone implements, quite distinct from those of the Maories, and found in swamps, and below the roots of trees."

V.-SWINHOE ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF FORMOSA.

(1.) NOTES ON THE ISLAND OF FORMOSA. By Robert Swinhoe, F.G.S., F.Z.S., and H.M. Consul at Taiwan. London, 1863. Privately printed.

(2.) NOTES ON THE ETHNOLOGY OF FORMOSA. By Robert Swinhoe, &c. London, 1863. (Privately printed.)

(3.) ON THE MAMMALS OF THE ISLAND OF FORMOSA. By Robert Swinhoe, &c. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 347.

(4.) THE ORNITHOLOGY OF FORMOSA OR TAIWAN. By Robert Swinhoe, &c. The Ibis, 1863, pp. 198, 250, 377.

(5.) A LIST OF FORMOSAN REPTILES, with notes on a few of the Species, and some Remarks on a Fish (Orthagoriscus, sp.). By Robert Swinhoe. Ann. and Mag. N.H. 1863.

(6.) LIST OF PLANTS FROM THE ISLAND OF FORMOSA OR TAIWAN. By R. Swinhoe. (Privately printed)

Two years ago, the great island of Formosa, opposite the Southern coast of China, was a terra incognita to naturalists, and nearly so to geographers. In December, 1860, Mr. Robert Swinhoe, of Her Majesty's Consular Service, was appointed to the new post of Vice