taking up this branch of inquiry, Mr. Tristram has most undoubtedly succeeded in writing a "new book upon an old subject." We have no intention of following Mr. Tristram and his friends in their peregrinations over the Land of Israel, which extended over a period of nearly ten months, but can assure our readers that they will find the account of their wanderings in the present volume, not only written in a most attractive style, but replete with information in every branch of Natural History. With regard to the more strictly scientific papers relating to different parts of the Natural History of Palestine, we will, however, say a few words.

The total number of species of birds of Palestine recorded in Mr. Tristram's report given in the Zoological Society's "Proceedings" is 322—the list being confined to those which were obtained by or came under the personal observation of the members of the expedition. It is still imperfect, Mr. Tristram observes, especially in the great classes of Grallatores and Natatores, but the following will gives us some idea of its constituent parts.

"Of the whole 322 species noted in Palestine, 260 are ineluded in the European lists, 31 are common to Eastern Africa, but are non-European species, or at most accidental stragglers, and are chiefly desert-species of Nubia and the Sahara; 7 are of Eastern Asia; 4 of Northern Asia, (Serinus pusillus, Carpodacus erythrinus, Charadrius asiaticus, and Charadrius mongolicus); 4 of the Gulls and Terns are characteristic of the Red Sea, and 27 species are, so far as our present knowledge extends, peculiar to Palestine and districts immediately adjacent, of which 9 species are now described for the first time, while several others, as Cypselus galilæensis, Sitta krueperi, Bessonornis albigularis, Petronia brachydactyla, Nectarinia osea, as well as most of Hemprich and Ehrenberg's new species, have not before been brought to England. Every species described by Hemprich and Ehrenberg has been obtained and identified during this expedition, excepting one doubtful species."

The Reptiles and Fishes collected by Mr. Tristram have been worked out for him by Dr. Günther, who gives us the results in another communication to the Zoological Society. Dr. Günther remarks, that very little was previously known of the Herpetology and Ichthyology of Palestine, and that the only specimens of this part of its Fauna in the vast stores of our National collection, consisted of a small collection made by Mr. T. W. Beddome, who visited Palestine in 1862. The Reptiles and Batrachians obtained by Mr.

Tristram's expedition are referable to forty species, most of which are either identical with, or nearly allied to those of the Fauna of the Mediterranean basin. Only one species (Daboia xanthina) is Indian. Two Lizards and one Snake (belonging to the family Calamariidae) are described as new. The Fishes are referred to seventeen species, many of them Syrian forms, whilst species of the genera Chromis and Hemichromis show the affinity of the Jordan Ichthyological fauna, with that of the Nile and other rivers of Africa. The Fishes of the Lake of Galilee seem to be:

Blennius lupulus,

Chromis nilotica,

simonis,

andreæ,

Hemicromis sacer,

Clarias macracanthus,
Barbus longiceps,

Labeobarbus canis,

Scaphiodon capoeta,
Cobitis galilæa.

Strange indeed it is that of the thousand travellers who have before visited its waters, not one should have taken the trouble to bring home specimens of the apostolic fishes!

The terrestrial and fluviatile Mollusks collected during the expedition belong to about 120 species, which have been worked out by Mr. Tristram himself. Mr. Tristram gives us the following remarks on the general character of the Molluscan fauna of this region.

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The character of the Molluscan fauna of Palestine partakes, as might have been expected, of the same variety which marks the other branches of its fauna and flora. There are, however, fewer exceptions to its general character as a part of the Mediterranean basin, and fewer traces of the admixture of African and Indian forms. Northern types, especially of the genus Clausilia, are frequent in the Lebanon and on its southern spurs in Galilee. The Molluscan fauna of the maritime plains and the coast possesses no features distinct from those of Lower Egypt and Asia Minor. The shells of the central region are scarce, and not generally interesting: while on the borders of the Jordan valley and in the southern wilderness we meet with very distinct groups of Helix and of Bulimus, chiefly of species peculiar, or common in some few cases to the Arabian desert.

"The fluvatile Mollusca are of a type very much more tropical in its character than that of the terrestrial shells. There are here but few species similar to those of the east of Europe. Most of the

species are identical with, or similar to those of the Nile and of the Euphrates; and some of the genus Melanopsis are peculiar to the Jordan or its feeders. It seems probable that the inhabitants of the waters were better able to sustain the cold of the glacial epoch than the molluscs of the land; and from the post-tertiary remains found by the Dead Sea, we may infer that the species now existing have been transmitted from a period antecedent to the glacial; while the more boreal forms introduced at that epoch have maintained their existence in the colder districts of Northern Palestine to the exclusion of the southern species, which have not succeeded in re-establishing themselves. The beautiful group Achatina, requiring a degree of moisture not generally found in Palestine, is only represented by a few insignificant and almost microscopic species."

The remaining parts of the collection made by Mr. Tristram's expedition are, we are informed, in the hands of different Naturalists, who have undertaken to work them out in a similar manner. When this has been accomplished, Mr. Tristram proposes to combine the whole in a special publication to be issued by the Ray Society, under the title of " A Synopsis of the Fauna and Flora of Palestine."

Original Artiqles.

XLIX. UPON THE EPISTERNAL PORTIONS OF THE SKELETON, AS They appear in MAMMALIA AND IN MAN. By C. Gegenbauer.* UNDER the name of Episternal bones those portions of the skeleton are indicated, which presenting well marked characters in Amphibia (Frogs), and in Reptiles (Lizards and Crocodiles), exist only in a fragmentary condition, and with modified relations in Mammals. In the Seals these bones are merely applied to the anterior extremity of the sternum; in the Armadilloes they constitute detached bones of more importance, lying in front of the manubrium sterni, and connected by a ligamentous bond of union with the sternal ends of the clavicles; and in the Monotremata they form a single T-shaped bone placed in front of the sternum, with the transverse or outrunning arms superimposed for a certain distance on the anterior clavicular bones.†

In all these instances then, there are portions of the skeleton which effect a connection between the sternum and the anterior clavicular bones: except of course in the Seals, in which no clavicles are developed. Now, in some instances these portions of the bony framework of the body are symmetrical in their arrangement, in others they are asymmetrical or azygous, and they consequently present many varieties of external form. Our knowledge of the existence of these and similar episternal structures in other divisions of the mammalia besides those abovementioned, has hitherto been extremely limited,‡ and though structures resembling those normally

* Translated from the original in the "Jenaische Zeitschrift für Medicin," &c. vol. I. (1864) p. 175, et seq.

† Cuvier, Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles 4e Edit. T. viii. 1, p. 252; and Leçons sur l'anatomie comparée 2e Edit. T. 1, p. 238; Stannius, Lehrbuch der vergleich. Anatomie, S. 349; v. Rapp. Anatom. Untersuch. über die Edentaten. 2 Auflage, Tübingen, 1852, p. 39.

In the Chlamydophorus, an animal which is closely allied to the Armadilloes, the clavicle, according to Hyrtl. is connected with the sternum by means of a ligament. Here, as Hyrtl remarks, the relations are the same as in Dasypus, except that a bony nucleus is absent. See Chlamydophori truncati cum Dasypode gymnuro comparatum examem anatomicum. Vienna, 1855, S. 23 (Denkschrift. der Wiener Ákad. Band. ix. der Mathemat phys. Classe.)

present in the Armadilloes have sometimes been met with in man, the analogies of the several parts have certainly not been accurately followed out. The results of my investigations show that episternal bones, or bones analogous to them, are much more commonly present than is usually admitted, and I am inclined to think that an examination of their arrangement in different animals may throw some light on their morphological significance. The degree of development attained by the episternal structures in different mammals undoubtedly varies to a considerable extent; and I shall therefore first describe the highly developed condition of these parts, presented by the Monotremata and Armadilloes, and leave to a subsequent period the discussion of the relatively smaller and therefore less easily recognized examples met with in other animals.

Amongst the Marsupials, I find in several species of Didelphys a T-shaped cartilaginous piece, the expanded base of which is seated on the anterior extremity of the sternum, and which in one case extended so far on either side as to assist in forming a point d'appui for the first rib. This structure (Ep. fig. I.) might indeed be

Episternal apparatus of Didelphys (Opossum.) :-st, sternum; cp, episternum ; cl, clavicle; c, rib.

regarded as a persistently cartilaginous manubrium sterni; but the two transverse arms, proceeding from its anterior attenuated extremity, render this explanation doubtful. Moreover the connection of the lateral basal process with the first rib is by no means constant: indeed in various examples of three species of Didelphys that I examined, it was only met with in one instance, (shown in Fig. I.) The transverse anterior arms are club-shaped at their extremities, and are applied by their posterior or upper surfaces to the somewhat swollen extremities of the clavicles. On making transverse sections it may be clearly shown that there is an articular cavity