the upper mandible and the basal half of the lower mandible deep blood-red; on either side of the upper mandible, immediately in front of the blood-red basal band, is a large buff-coloured plate or lamina, continuous with the structure of the bill at its base, but separate and detached in front, thin on its upper edge, but thicker and projecting beyond the edge of the mandible below; feet slaty blue.

Total length, 18 inches; bill, 33; wing, 63; tail, 63; tarsi, 11. Hab. Neighbourhood of Quito.

Remark. The only example I have seen belongs to the collection of T. B. Wilson, Esq., of Philadelphia, and which has been kindly lent to me by his brother Edward Wilson, Esq., to enrich my Monograph of the Ramphastide.

Equally inexhaustible appear to be the Odontophorinæ or Partridges of America, for in the rich Museum of Leyden, I lately found a species which was previously unknown to me; it pertains to the genus Odontophorus, and I propose for it the name of Odontophorus Columbianus.

ODONTOPHORUS COLUMBIANUS.

Crown of the head brown, minutely freckled with black; back of the neck washed with rufous; over each eye an indistinct mottled stripe; throat white, irregularly spotted, especially on the sides, with black; upper surface brown, washed with grey on the centre of the feathers, each of which is delicately pencilled with black, and has a narrow stripe of buff, bounded on each side by a narrower one of black, down the centre; those of the scapularies and wing-coverts have moreover a large patch of rich dark brown on the inner web near the tip, bounded above by two narrow lines, one of buff, the other of dark brown; primaries brown; secondaries brown, freckled and barred with dark brown, and washed with rufous; tertiaries brown, washed with grey and rufous, freckled with black, having a broad V-shaped mark of black near the tip, and broadly margined and tipped internally with deep buff; under surface reddish brown, each feather with a large irregularly-shaped mark of white margined with black near the tip; under tail-coverts, and vent mottled reddish brown and sandy buff; bill black; feet lead-colour.

Total length, 11 inches; bill, 1; wing, 53; tail, 23; tarsi, 2; middle toe and nail, 24.

Hab. Caraccas.

Remark. The fine specimen gracing the Museum at Leyden was transmitted by M. Landsberger, Netherlands Consul at Caraccas. There is also another specimen, from, I believe, the same locality, which differs in having the under surface of a nearly uniform greyish brown, with here and there a few of the white marks so conspicuous in the bird above described; it is also of a somewhat smaller size, but notwithstanding these differences, the two birds appear to be one and the same species.

The O. Columbianus has a stouter bill, and is of a larger size than O. dentatus, but is smaller than O. Balliviani, to which it is most nearly allied.

Leaving America and India, and proceeding to Australia, I return to a country which has so long engaged my attention, to characterize a new genus of small creeping Insessorial Birds, nearly allied to the genera Hylacola and Dasyornis, under the name of Pycnoptilus, of which at present only a single specimen is known, and to which I beg to assign the specific name of floccosa; it is from New South Wales and the country towards the river Darling.

Genus PYCNOPTILUS.

Gen. Char.-Bill much shorter than the head; gonys and culmen gradually descending; upper mandible notched at the tip; nostrils covered with a distinct operculum; base of the bill beset with very fine feeble hairs; wings very short, round and concave, the sixth primary the longest; tail short, rounded, feathers very broad and of a soft texture; tarsi strong, and somewhat lengthened compared with the size of the bird; hind-toe strong, and armed with a rather long claw; fore toes and nails rather feeble, the outer and inner toes of equal length; plumage dense, lengthened and silky, especially on the flanks.

PYCNOPTILUS FLOCCOSUS.

All the upper surface, wings and tail rich brown; throat and breast sandy buff, the feathers of the latter with a crescent of brown near the tip; remainder of the under surface brown, approaching to white on the centre of the abdomen; under tail-coverts rusty red; bill and feet dark brown.

Total length, 63 inches; bill, ; wing, 23; tail, 23; tarsi, 11. Hab. New South Wales.

Remark.-Received in a collection made on the upper part of the river Morumbidgee.

This form is somewhat allied to Atrichia, Hylacola and Dasyornis, but differs from all those genera in several particulars.

I cannot conclude this paper descriptive of several new and important birds, without congratulating the Society upon the means they possess of making known to the scientific world through their Proceedings and Transactions, spread far and wide as they are, not only over our own country, but I may say over the world, the many interesting objects which from time to time are brought before their Meetings; neither must I omit to bear testimony to the high estimation in which they are held by all the continental naturalists and every true lover of scientific research.

2. DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO SPECIES OF CRUSTACEA IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. BY ADAM WHITE, ASSISTANT ZOOL. DEP. BRIT. Mus.

POTAMOBIUS SERRATUS.

(Annulosa, Pl. XV.)

Cancer serratus, Shaw, Zoology of New Holland, t. 8.

Beak shorter than the peduncle of the outer antennæ, with three teeth on the outside, above hollowed and slightly grooved down the

middle, edges over the eyes considerably thickened. Hands, outside with a double row of serratures extending to near the end of the fixed claw; inside edge serrated with four teeth and one tooth at the end; moveable claw with six or seven teeth placed irregularly but chiefly on the ridge; claws elongated, inner edge with a few bluntish teeth, the end somewhat hooked. Wrist with each of the lateral edges furnished with two strong teeth or spines. Carapace smooth along the back; the sides of the front portion with a few spines, which on the lower part are almost reduced to tubercles; hinder part of the carapace separated from the front portion by a very deep groove, each of the sides in front with two spines; the sides of this portion are thickly covered with tubercles, which increase in size as they approach the back. Abdomen smooth on the dorsal line, the sides spined; the first segment with a large prominent spine on each side of the first segment; second segment with twelve or thirteen spines, four or five on each edge of the dilated part, the other two larger and situated on the sides; the spines are more or less conical and sharp, the one on each side nearest the back blunt; the third, fourth and fifth segments with eight spines each, placed transversely, the two inner bluntest; the sixth segment with ten or eleven small spines or tubercles; the seventh or terminal segment with seventeen or eighteen small sharp spines arranged in a crescent-like figure, the convexity being outwards. The two posterior pairs of legs with the penultimate joint on the outside furnished with two rows of serratures.

Carapace and legs in the dead specimen of a dirty yellowish brown hue, tinged on the carapace with red. In Dr. Shaw's figure, which slightly differs from Pl. XV., this crayfish is coloured of a bright red, the sides of the claws, carapace and abdomen, are tinged with blue; the specimens, however, were preserved in spirits. Dr. Shaw does not mention from what part of New Holland the specimens described by him were received; I cannot find any trace of them, neither does any author that I am aware of refer to his figure or description.

The species comes closest to the Potamobius (Astacus) Franklinii, described with three other Australian species of the same genus by Mr. Gray, in the Appendix to Eyre's Discoveries in Central Australia, vol. i. p. 409, t. 3. f. 1.

The specimen in the British Museum was found by Mr. Strange in freshwater creeks, Brisbane Water. Mr. Leicester informs me that the species is not uncommon also in the Richmond River.

GONODACTYLUS CULTRIFER, n. sp.

(Annulosa, Pl. XVI. fig. 1, 2.)

In a Chinese collection, part of which was acquired by the British Museum, there occurs a Gonodactylus quite distinct from any of the species of this genus which have been described. This species enters into the second section of Prof. Milne-Edwards, in which the rostral plate is rounded, or scarcely pointed, in front. From the elevated compressed process on the seventh abdominal ring, this species may be called G. cultrifer.

The sides of the carapace are very thin and membranaceous. The rostral plate is wider than long, but not so wide as in the G. scyl