An extract of a letter from DR. JAMIESON to MR. CLERK, Political Agent, N. W. Frontier, dated Camp Kalabagh on the Indus, Nov. 15, 1841, was partly read. From this it would appear, that with reference to the main objects of DR. JAMIESON'S mission, the discovery of good sources for a supply of Coal, there was not from the Geological character of the country, much chance of its attainment. Coal it is true, was found at Kalabagh in thin seams in a white sand-stone, which alternates with the red marls in which the rock salt and gypsum are imbedded, the largest seam being about 17 inches in breadth, consisting partly of coal, sand-stone, and mineral sulphur. About 2,000 maunds had been collected, but an exorbitant price, Rs. 4 per pucka maund, was demanded, as the people used it for medicine.

The oldest rock met with between Jabalpore and Kalabagh, is magnesian limestone, on which is the red sand-stone and red marl, and white sand-stone alternating with it.

In a lime-stone filled with organic remains, (probably the equivalent of the muschelkalk of Germany,) iron ores, red and brown hematite, occur in enormous beds. On the banks of the river, the sand is extensively washed for gold, so that we have here at once, iron, gold, sulphur, salt, gypsum, lime-stone, saltpetre, alum, and coal; all that is wanting to raise the town (Kalabagh) to one of the most important cities in India, being coal in quantity, with enterprise and capital; but Dr. JAMIESON concludes, from the geological characters of the district, that no coal worth working will be found in it. The coal met with is partly lignite and partly jet, and not true bituminous coal; but from experiment it seems well adapted for Steam Vessels, burning with a good flame, and having but little residium.

This valuable paper was referred to the Secretary, for publication in his Journal. A letter and statement from Captain BAYLE, Superintendent Experimental Cotton Plantations, contradicting many points in the letter of Mr. BRUCE was presented. Referred to the Editor of the Journal.

A letter from Prince SOLTIKOFF, requesting permission to have copies made of those parts of the Mackenzie MSS. relating to Sculpture and Architecture.

Letter from the Secretary to Government in the General Department was read, forwarding copy of a circular from the Military Board to the Engineer and other officers employed on the construction of roads, recommending to their attention, as suggested by Mr. Acting Curator PIDDINGTON, the objects of the Museum of Economic Geology, and forwarding to them copies of Captain TREMENHEERE's paper. A box of tin and manganese ores from Mergui had also been sent by the Military Board, and these were accompanied by a report from the Secretary to the Coal and Iron Committee. Referred to the Journal.

A letter from Brigadier TwEMLOw, received through the Agricultural Society, with some specimens, was also referred to the Editor of the Journal for publication. One from Dr. H. H. SPRY, forwarding specimens of copper ore from Cornwall, presented by Major JENKINS, for the Museum of Economic Geology.

From Captain KITTOE, with numbers completing a full copy of his valuable work on Indian Architecture, and offering his best services to the Society in Europe.

From Colonel PoGSON, requesting that the Society would republish in its Transactions, a paper published by Dr. CORBYN in his Journal, and forwarding a MSS. in continuation. Referred to the Committee of Papers.

The report of the Curator to the Society was read as follows:

Animal Kingdom.

MAMMALIA.

In this class of animals, I have the satisfaction to record the following donations:Ist. A collection of numerous skeletons, in pieces, some extra skulls, frontlets and horns, and a few skins, together with specimens of other classes, from Mr. W. Masters: the former being referrible to the following species:

Hylobates, apparently H. Hoolock, Harlan: a skull, older than those previously in the Museum, and cutting its third upper and second lower true molars, the third lower being also partly visible in process of formation.

Semnopithecus Entellus: the skeleton of a very fine old male, being a welcome acquisition to our collection.

Macacus, apparently M. Rhesus: a skeleton.

Lemur, qy. species? : ditto.

Pteropus Edwardsii: ditto.

Megaderma Lyra: ditto.

Scotophilus castaneus: ditto. As the skulls of these three Bats have been minutely compared with other specimens in the Museum, prepared under my own direction, there can be little doubt of the correctness of their identification.

Vulpes Corsac (vel Bengalensis, Indicus, Kokree, &c. Auctorum): a skull.

Felis Tigris: the skeleton of a fine male; with four additional skulls, apparently of one male and three females; and a skin in bad condition of a very large Tiger. Our Bengal Museum was perhaps the only one in the world, of proportionate extent, that did not previously contain a skin of this renowned Bengal animal. A fine specimen for stuffing is still a desideratum, which I hope this notice will be the means of obtaining.

F. Pardus (vel Leopardus): a skull, and much injured skin.

Lutra leptonyx: a stuffed specimen, being a species and genus new to the Museum, though one of four species which have been obtained since our last meeting.

Ursus labiatus: a skull.

Talpa Europea: a stuffed specimen. Of this genus I may remark that our Museum contains a perfect specimen in spirits, from Sylhet (vide J. A. S. vii. 464), of the species inhabiting northern India (T. micrura, Hodgson); also an imperfect skin, of decidedly the same species, from Assam (noticed in J. A. S. vii. 464); and a skeleton, which I believe is also that of a specimen from the latter country. This animal, according to Mr. Hodgson (Proc. Zol. Soc., 1834, 96), is, in Nepal, found only in the Kachar or northern region; it (or a species of Mole, in all probability the same,) is mentioned by Mr. Traill as an inhabitant of Kumaon (As. Res. xvi. 153); and the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, in his volume on Kabul (p. 142), observes, that "Moles are only found in Kashmir". Lieut. Hutton states the existence of a Mole at Quetta (Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. No. IV, 558). There can be little doubt that all these notices refer to the same species, which will probably prove to have a still more extensive range, especially to the eastward. As many as four species of true Talpa have now been ascertained, all of which are inhabitants of the continent

of Europe and Asia, one, however, being found in Japan. In Africa, at least South Africa, they are represented by the genus Chrysochloris, and in North America by Scalops and Condylura; in South America no Insectivora (Cuv.) have hitherto been discovered (for the Sorex tristriatus of Fischer has proved to be a genuine Opossum) and Mr. Waterhouse has well remarked that their place is there supplied by the numerous small Opossums, as in Australia by other analogous Marsupiata. There exists, however, a species of true Insectivora (Cuv.) in the island of St. Domingo, which constitutes the genus Solenodon of Brandt. No burrowing forms that can be considered analogous to the Mole and allied genera have as yet been discovered among the Marsupiata, but it is highly probable that such will eventually be found to exist.

Equus Caballus: a skull.

Elaphus Indicus: some molar teeth.

Cervus Hippelaphus: frontlet of a young animal.

C. Axis: skulls of an old male, a young male, and a female.

Antilope Cervicapra: an imperfect skull, a pair of loose horns, and an odd horn. Ovis Nahoor: horn of a female.

2d. I have to announce the present, from "a lady," of a living female of the Moschus Meminna, Auctorum; this species I had never previously seen alive (as I often have its Malayan congeners), and certainly did not expect to find it so very bulky an animal, or in other respects so nearly allied to the recently discovered true Chevrotain of Western Africa (M. aquaticus, Ogilby, P. Z. S., 1840, 35), a species which I had the good fortune to examine, or, in common, I imagine, with every other zoologist who has heard the announcement of a Chevrotain from that locality, I should certainly have been unable to resist the suspicion that the animal would rather have belonged to the Philantombah group of "Antelopes" (Cephalophus), or perhaps some allied form; it is, however, in all respects a thorough Chevrotain, nearly allied to the Meminna, and the first Cervine quadruped (with the exception of that very remarkable one, the Giraffe,) which has been discovered to the southward of the Atlas chain in all Africa ;* its habits are remarkably aquatic, which circumstances I mention

I say Cervine, because quite unable to appreciate any sufficient difference between the Cervidae and Moschide, Auctorum, to justify their current separation into groups of the value of "families." How, for instance, can the Muntjacs be placed in a distinct family division from the Chevrotains? With respect to the presence or absence of antlers, which is the only positive distinction subsisting between these two alleged families, it is well known that a South American group of tiny Deer have the appendages in question reduced to the permanent condition of brockets, or small branchless beams, to say nothing of the fact of their constant absence in one sex all but throughout the family; while, on the other hand, it is by no means clear, now especially that a plurality of species has been ascertained among the musk-bearing Moschi, that one or more of these is not actually furnished with antlers: witness the description of the musk-animal by the Arab historian, Abusseid Serafi, who (as cited

in the hope of inducing some investigation as to whether the Indian species may not participate in the same propensity; nothing of the sort (that I am aware) has hitherto been observed, or at least published, concerning it, nor from the skulking habits of the animal does it appear to have been much noticed in many districts where it is certainly found. In Ceylon, it is as common as Hares are in England; the natives trap great numbers of them in the interior of the island, and bring them almost daily to market in Colombo and other towns, where they sell for about a rupee each, and are esteemed very delicate-eating. In Colonel Sykes's list of the Mammalia of the Dukhun (P. Z. S. 1831, 104), it is mentioned that "considerable numbers exist in the dense Woods of the Western Ghauts, but they are never found on the plain." Mr. Walter Elliot, in his Catalogue of Mammalia in the Southern Mahratta Country' (Madras Journal, No. xxv. 220), notices it as "common in the forest, and even occasionally

by Mr. Ogilby) states that "it is very similar to the Roe, having long projecting tusks, and horns of a straight form or slightly pushed back;" so, also, in Bell's Travels in Tartary (1, 224), we read that "The Kabenda is a size less than the Fallow Deer, and its colour dark. It is of a pretty shape, having erect horns without branches; is very swift, and haunts rocks and mountains of difficult access to men and dogs; and, when hunted, it jumps from cliff to cliff with incredible celerity and firmness of foot. The flesh is esteemed better venison than any of the Deer kind of larger size, of which there is a great variety in these parts [neighbourhood of Elimsky.] This is the animal from which the drug called musk is taken. There are many of them in this country, but the musk is not so strongly scented as that which comes from China. The General had bred this creature to be very familiar. He fed it at his table, with bread and roots; when dinner was over, it jumped on the table, and picked up the crumbs. It was pleasing to observe its gambols, playing with the children like a kid." With such opportunities, accordingly, for observation, it is very unlikely that the traveller should be mistaken in what he avers concerning its "horns."

I may remark here, that in an account of the anatomy of a "cis-Himalayan" Musk, by A. Campbell, Esq. published in Jour. As. Soc. vi., 119, the presence of a gall bladder is noted, "of an oval shape, pendulous from the right half of the liver, and three inches long, by two inches and a half in diameter." Whether this viscus was found to exist by Professor Pallas, who furnishes an account of the anatomy of (I believe) a Tartarian specimen, I do not remember to have noticed, and have not now the work to refer to the Chevrotains have none; and the existence or Don-existence of a gall-bladder has generally been considered as an invariable distinction between the two great divisions of hoofed ruminants, being absent in the Cervine group; hence its occurrence in a true Moschus is remarkable, but it is well to quote the following from Professor Owen's elaborate description of the internal conformation of the Giraffe (Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. 227-8.)

"As the presence of a gall-bladder distinguishes the hollow-horned from the solidhorned ruminants, the investigation of this point in the anatomy of the Giraffe was attended with much interest; and the result of an examination of three individuals shews how necessary it is not to generalize on such a point from a single dissection. "In the first Giraffe, (a female,) I found a large gall-bladder, which presented an unusual structure, being bifid at its fundus In the two males afterwards examined, there was not a vestige of a gall-bladder, but the bile was conveyed by a rather wide hepatic duct to the duodenum. I conclude, therefore, that the absence of a gall-bladder is the rule, or normal condition; and that the Giraffe in this respect, as in the structure of its horns, bears a nearer affinity to the Deer than to the Antelopes." Nor is this the only instance wherein an irregularity of conformation has been observed with respect to the presence of a gall-bladder: thus, in the class of birds, the French Academicians failed to detect it in four out of six specimens of the Demoiselle Crane, (Grus virgo); nevertheless, such instances of irregularity are extremely rare, and extensive groups are characterized (among other particulars) by the seemingly constant presence or absence of a receptable for the secretion of the liver, which it would be out of place here to particularize; my object has been to call some further attention to the subject as regards the true Musks, the affinities whereof induce a suspicion that the case recorded by Mr. Campbell will prove to be exceptional or abnormal, as adjudged by Mr. Owen to have been the fact in the instance of his first Giraffe.-CUR. AS. Soc.

seen in the Mulnad." Lieut. Tickell informs us that it "is found throughout the jungly districts of Central India, but from its retired habits is not often seen. It never ventures into the open country, where its want of speed would ensure its easy capture, but keeps among rocks, in the crevices of which it passes the heat of the day, and into which it retires on the approach of an enemy. In these the female brings forth her young (generally two in number) at the close of the rains, or the commencement of the cold season. The male keeps with the female during the rutting season, (about June or July,) at other times they live solitary. An idea," continues this gentleman, "prevails among the people in Singboom, not altogether void of probability, that at the season of the fall of the leaf, the Yar' never ventures beyond a few yards from its cave, as in walking along it sticks its sharp-pointed hoofs through the fallen foliage, which accumulates in such bunches on its legs as to cripple its movements altogether, should it prolong its rambles." (Calc. Jour. Nat. Hist. No. iii. 420.) How much further to the northward it may range, I possess no data for determining; but think it not unlikely that it will prove to inhabit suitable localities at the foot of the Himalaya. A second specimen of this animal, very young, and but just dead, has been obligingly presented to the Society by Mrs. Linstedt. +

3rd. Dr. Wallich has favoured us with a fine specimen of a Jackal (Canis aureus), of which common species the Museum did not previously contain an example; and with a pair (male and female) of the Corsac, or small Indian Fox, (Vulpes Corsac,) a species which before was represented only by a very shabby and mutilated stuffed skin, though we possess a good skeleton of this pretty little animal. The male now set up is a particularly fine and handsome one.

4th. Dr. Pearson has presented the Society with two handsome skins, but unfortunately mutilated of the fore-paws, and inordinately stretched lengthwise, of a species of Otter, which I will notice presently; and one of a Weasel, which I suspect to be an undescribed species, allied to Mustela Sarmatica. Size of the Ermine, or European Stoat, (M. Erminea,) and also nearly allied to that species, but rather darker (I write from memory only of the Ermine) in its colouring, with the tail-tip dusky reddish-brown, and less developed than the black tail-tip of M. Erminea; middle of the face, from the upper lip to the occiput, passing between the ears, and gradually fading on the nape into the general hue of the upper parts, much darker brown than the rest, contrasting, though not abruptly, with the fulvous of the cheeks; chin white, and shoulders and sides of the neck densely mottled with ill-defined dull

"Deer of several kinds, one a beautiful animal of the size of a Hare," are noticed as occurring upon Myn Pât, in Digurjah, in the Bengal Sporting Magazine for 1840, 536.

Mr. Hodgson has since noted the occurrence of a species which he considers new, and styles Tragulus mimenoides, in his Classified Catalogue of the Mammals of Nepal, Jour. As. Soc. 1840, 914. The generic appellation Tragulus, it may be remarked, applied by the late Mr. Bennett to the Chevrotains, was pre-bestowed by Col. Hamilton Smith on a group of small African Antelopes.

When this was being mounted, I had the living one, which had been turned loose into a small enclosure, caught, that its form might be better imitated in the stuffed specimen; and the strength and vigorous resistance offered by the little creature, when taken, after rather a tiresome chase, were quite surprising: it struggled most violently, using its sharp hoofs with some effect; and, had it been a male, would doubtless have inflicted bad wounds with its tusks. This little animal is of a very indolent disposition, at least by day, when I have never known it move voluntarily from the bush under which it squats; upon being disturbed, it plunges among the herbage exactly like a Hog Deer.-E. B.