having been unfortunately destroyed by the wasting of the alcohol in which it was kept.

Fam. GADIDÆ,

13. PHYCIS FURCATUS, Flem. (not Bowdich); Yarr. Brit. Fish. ed. 1. ii. 201. (Le Merlus barbu, Duham. Cuv. R. An. ed. 2. ii. p. 335.)

66

A single example occurred May 8, 1845; not quite agreeing with the figure in the British Fishes,' yet certainly distinct from the common Abrotea" of Madeira (P. mediterraneus, Lar.), of which, on the other hand, the P. furcatus of Bowdich (Excurs. p. 122. f. 28) was unquestionably a mere accidentally fork-tailed individual.

Fam. ECHENEIDE.

14. ECHENEIS VITTATA, Suppl. to Synops. in Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. iii. part 1. p. 17, and Hist. Fish. Mad. p. 77. t. 11. The acquisition of an adult example measuring 2 feet 6 inches in length, has proved the fish above described to have been a young individual of E. vittata, Rüppell (Neu. Wirbel. p. 82). It is fortunate that the happy coincidence of name necessitates no change or confusion in rendering justice to my learned friend's prior claim in the establishment of this well-marked species. The lateral dark band or vitta becomes indistinct in adult individuals. In the large full-grown example above mentioned it had disappeared entirely.

Fam. MURENIDÆ.

Gen. LEPTORHYNCHUS, nob.

Gen. Char. Caput scolopaciforme, callo elongato distinctum; maxillis in rostrum tenue productis, utraque dentibus minutissimis limæ instar scabra; rictu pone oculos diducto. Nares oculis contiguæ approximatæ, simplices nec tentaculata. Oculi magni. Corpus nudum anguilliforme compressum, gracile, elongatum; postice longissime attenuato-productum filiforme, apice acuto. Aperture branchiales sat magnæ, ante pinnas pectorales oblique deorsum fissa. Pinnæ pectorales distinctæ lanceolate, sat magnæ; pinna dorsali ad nucham paullo ante, anali ad gulam paullo post pinnas pectorales incipiente; utraque usque ad apicem caudæ continuata, membranacea, nec cute cooperta, sed radiis sat validis distinctis.

15. LEPTORHYNCHUS LEUCHTENBERGI. (The Snipe-Eel.)

I am indebted for an opportunity of describing this interesting new type of Muranide to the favour of His Imperial Highness the Duc de Leuchtenberg, to whom an example was brought by a fisherman in January last. It approaches the Anguillide by its well-developed pectoral fins. The prolonged beak-like muzzle also reminds one of that of Leptognathus, Swainson. The unique individual examined, which measured 2 feet 9 inches in length, scarcely half an inch in height, and four lines in thickness, is included in the extensive col

lections formed with so much scientific ardour and discrimination by His Imperial Highness the Duc de Leuchtenberg, during his late six months' residence in Madeira.

Fam. BALISTIDE.

16. MONACANTHUS AURIGA. Hispidus, cauda utrinque dense hispido-villosa; pallide olivaceo-murinus, sublutescens, fuscolutoso-maculatus v. interrupte longitudinaliter subfasciatus ; fasciis luteis inconspicuis evanescentibus 3 v. 4 ab oculis antice oblique radiantibus; radiis 1 v. 2 anticis dorsalis primæ aliquando in filamentum productis.

Ima D. 1; 2da D. 31; A. 30 v. 31; P. 13 v. 14; C. 1+X. +1. From eight to ten or eleven inches long. On each side, towards the base of the caudal fin, is an oblong patch, like plush or velveteen, of close thickset hairs or bristles. The occasional production of the second or first two rays of the second dorsal fin is perhaps sexual. Such examples have the muzzle rather longer and more produced before the eyes than those which have not the elongated dorsal filament. They are perhaps the M. filamentosus of M. Valenciennes, to whose figure and description, however, in MM. Webb and Berthelot's 'Canarian Fishes,' I regret I have not access.

Several examples have occurred, chiefly in the autumn, during the last five or six years, of this previously in Madeira unobserved or unrecorded species.

SQUALIDE.

Fam. ALOPECIDE.

17. ALOPIAS VULPES, Buon. (The Fox Shark, Yarr. ii. 379.) An example occurred this spring of unusual size, measuring eighteen feet in length, of which the tail was ten feet. The skin was preserved by the Duc de Leuchtenberg.

Fam. SPINACIDE.

18. CENTROPHORUS SQUAMOSUs, Müll. und Henle, p. 90, with a figure.

The Ramudo or Raimudo of Madeira, not unfrequently taken off the Dezertas at a depth of twelve or fourteen "linhas," i. e. from 350 to 400 fathoms, belongs apparently to the above species, the habitat of which was unknown to its describers, MM. Müller and Henle. I have only examined female examples, and the fishermen profess themselves to be entirely unacquainted with the male, which I have however formerly (March 10, 1838) once seen, though without opportunity for a close or accurate examination, and so perhaps without remarking any spine near the tips of the claspers or ventral fin-appendages. The individuals examined were five or six feet long, but the fish is said to grow to a much larger size.

Madeira, May 25, 1850.

2. OBSERVATIONS ON THE destructivE SPECIES OF DIPTEROUS INSECTS KNOWN IN AFRICA UNDER THE NAMES OF THE TSETSE, ZIMB, AND TSALTSALYA, AND ON THEIR SUPPOSED CONNEXION WITH THE FOURTH PLAGUE OF EGYPT. BY J. O. WESTWOOD, F.L.S., PRES. Ent. Soc. etc.

(Annulosa, Pl. XIX.)

The species of insects which attack the larger of our domestic quadrupeds may be divided into two chief classes; first, those which do so in order to obtain a supply of food for their own support; and second, those which do so with the object of depositing their eggs in such a position, that the larvæ, when hatched from them, will be certain of finding a proper supply of food derived from some part of the animal, either external or internal.

The insects composing the first of these two classes require for the performance of their dreaded functions an organization of the parts of the mouth especially fitting them to pierce the skins and hides of the quadrupeds upon the blood of which they subsist, and we accordingly find that it is precisely these insects which have the mouthorgans most fully developed in the different families to which they respectively belong. The Stomoxys calcitrans, and especially the different species of Tabanus, are pre-eminent in this respect; and the formidable array of lancets in the mouth of one of the latter insects is not to be met with elsewhere among the whole of the flies composing the order Diptera, to which they belong. The effects of the attacks of these insects upon the horse are perceived by the drops of blood which flow from the orifices caused by their bites, and sometimes these wounds are so numerous, that the beasts "are all in a gore of blood." A still smaller species, named by Linnæus the Culex equinus, also infests the horse in infinite numbers, running under the mane and amongst the hair, and piercing the skin to suck their blood. This insect, although given by Linnæus as a Culex, appears from his description to belong to the genus Simulium, to which genus also belongs an insect of fearful note, which attacks the horned cattle in Servia and the Bannat, penetrating the generative organs, nose, ears, &c. of these animals, and by its poisonous bite destroying them in a few hours. A species of the same genus of minute Tipulida is common in marshy districts in England, and I have often experienced its attacks, which have resulted in the raising of a tumour on the part of the flesh which has been attacked, attended by a considerable amount of local inflammation; and hence we may readily believe the well-authenticated effects produced upon the cattle above described. There are various other insects which attack the horse and ox, such as the Hippoboscæ, various species of ticks, Anthomyiæ, &c.; and if these do not, from their smaller size, cause a discharge of blood like the large Tabanida, it is certain that the irritation which they produce not only by their presence upon the skin, but also by the sharpness of their bite, must be very irritating to the quadrupeds which they infest.