a thick muzzle; tongue scaly; fore feet 4-dactyle and a rudimentary thumb; hind feet 5-dactyle; body covered with spines intermixed with the hair; tail more or less long, in some foreign species prehensile.

H. dorsata. Porcupine.

H. pilosus of Catesby !

Cavia Hudsonius of Rlim!

H. Hudsonius of Brisson!

Erithrezon dorsatum of Cuvier !

Erethizon dorsatus. Baird !

V.S.P. Length of head and body 30 inches; of tail 8 inches; fur over body above and beneath blackish brown externally intermixed superiorly with white hairs and spinous quills, which are spindle-shaped and very sharp, brown, and at other times tipped with white; the upper lip is covered with a yellowish brown fur assuming a deeper tint on the forehead and sides of the head; tail brown, with a fine white hair on the tip; the hairs which cover the upper surface of the feet, curve downwards near the soles, and being worn by constant friction on the ground, form a thick marginal brush, which fits the animal for walking on the snow; eyes lateral, small and round; ears much concealed by the fur, in many instances barely perceptible. This animal forms the type of the Hystrix tribe of M. F. Cuvier. A specimen in the Museum of the Natural History Society of Montreal measures:

From the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail, 36 inches.
Length of the tail including fur......
Distance between the eyes...

7

แ 21

Gen. char. Incisors, canines wanting, molars £=28. Upper incisors in pairs; two cuneiform, with a longitudinal groove anteriorly, the other two smaller; lower ones square; molars with flat crowns and transverse laminæ of enamel; ears and eyes large; fore feet 5-dactyle; hind feet 4-dactyle. Fore legs short, hind legs long; hind feet with slightly arched nails; tail short, reclinate or erect; mammæ 6 to 18; cæcum large.

V.S.P. Length 20 inches; tail including fur 23 inches. Sumer pelage: blackish grey at the roots, and yellowish brown at the

tips; sides of the muzzle sprinkled with white; under jaw grey; abdomen and thorax white; sides dull yellowish brown; tail white beneath and yellowish brown above. Winter pelage: blackish grey internally changing to brownish which fades to white at the tips, giving the animal a more white appearance, which is only interrupted at the margins of the ears, where the interior black of the ear becomes perceptible; the hair is twice as long in winter, as it is in summer. Weight of a full grown one about six pounds.

ORD. VII. PACHYDERMATA.

None wild.

ORD. VIII. RUMINANTIA.

Genus Cervus.

Gen. char. Incisors, canines, or 11, molars = 32 to 44. Canines when present, bent back and compressed; head long ter minated by a moveable snout or upper lip; eyes large, pupils elongate transversely; a lachrymal sinus in most species; ears large and pointed; tongue soft; horns solid and deciduous, more or less branched, wanting in females except in one species; 4 inguinal mammæ.

C. alces. Moose deer.

Alce Americanus of Jardine and Beard!

V.S.P. Pelage light brown over the shoulders; hairs internally grey changing to white tipped with brown on the shoulders, back and sides of neck; grey internally tipped with black, on the sides, upper part of the forelegs and cheeks; forehead, muzzle, internal surface of the legs, lower part of the fore and hind legs except at the tarsus, and the posterior part of the abdomen of a dirty white or grey colour; ears greyish white with a shorter fur than that on the body, the hairs here being of an inch long, while on the mane it is 4 inches, on the flanks 2 inches and gradually becomes longer as it approaches the abdomen; fur on the tail short the longest hairs being scarcely 2 inches; hairs on the upper part of the body alternately white, grey, black and brown; the shafts assuming a zigzag appearance internally and downy near their insertion into the skin. Irides hazel, pupils elongate transversely; muzzle long and very moveable projecting considerably over the lower jaw. From the intermaxillary space, hangs a tuft of black hairs 9 inches long, attached to a process of the skin; tarsi of the

fore and hind feet dark brown. Described from a specimen in the Museum of the Nat. History Society of Montreal, of which the following are the dimensions:

F. Inc.

Length from tip of snout to commencement of the tail 9 64

2 41

do of head from occiput to tip of snout........ Height from shoulders to ground with fur of mane. 5 Distance between the orbits....

9

9

A much larger and finer specimen of this animal is in the possession of James Douglas, M.D., of Quebec, who has furnished the author with the following measurements of it. It was killed about 3 miles from that city in March, 1855.

F. Inc. Length from tip of snout to tip of tail excluding the fur, 9 11 Do. of tail with fur,

Do. of the intermaxillary tuft with the fur,. Height from shoulder to the ground including fur,.. Distance between the orbits,....

0 6

3

1

111

The white hairs of this animal are extensively used by the Indians in the fabrication of their ornaments. They possessed the knowledge of dyeing them in the most gaudy colours, long before the settlement of this country by the French, and indicated a degree of effect in using them truly astonishing, and far above what would be expected from savage tribes.

C. Virginianus. Common or Red deer.

Length from the snout to the tail 5 feet, 8 inches; tail including fur 5 inches; from the occiput to the snout 9 inches; ears 5 inches; height from the ground to the shoulders 3 feet, 2 inches. Pelage, upper and lateral parts of the body, neck, head, and ears, anterior and exterior surfaces of the extremities and tail, of a fawn: colour, produced by hairs grey at the insertion,

changing to brown, then to yellow, and lastly tipped with blackish brown. Around the eyes, and sides of the nose, the fawn assumes a lighter tint; the intermaxillary space pure white, expanding into a white circular spot which covers the upper part of the throat; abdomen, and upper internal surfaces of the hind legs white; irides deep hazel; antlers incurved, branched from their internal upper surface; tail tufted, composed of white and brown hairs; back part of the knee-joints of the hind legs deep brown.

Fam. II. Ordinary whales.-Tribe I. Delphinus.

Genus Delphinus.

Gen. char. Teeth canine shaped, compressed and notched on their cutting margins, from none to 200; jaws more or less elongated; spiracle luneiform, an adipose dorsal fin with an occasional longitudinal fold of skin; tail horizontally flattened and furcate.

Sub genus Delphinapterus.

Sub gen. char. Without dorsal fins; head oblique; muzzle not elongate; teeth ranging from 9 to 42 throughout.

D. Leucas. Beluga or White Grampus.

D. albicans of Fabr!

V.S.P. Length from extremity of the tail to extremity of the snout 12 feet, 5 inches; of tail 1 foot, 6 inches; breadth of the tail 2 feet, 9 inches; length of pectoral fins 1 foot, 4 inches; distance between the eyes over the head 1 foot, 11 inches; greatest circumference about 9 feet; head externally convex; eyes small, black, situated 5 inches above and behind the commissure of the mouth; spiracle large, luneiform, 2 × 1 inches; three fins, two pectoral and a caudal or tail. There is no dorsal fin, but a slight fleshy eminence supplies its place. Colour pure white; cuticle of a mucous or gelatinous nature, nearly half an inch in thickness. The specimen from which the foregoing description is taken, was killed opposite the city of Montreal in the spring of 1836, and is at present a conspicuous object in the Museum of the Natural History Society of this city. The author has had no opportunity of examining its dental or osseous system.

END OF THE CLASS MAMMALIA AS OBSERVED IN THE DISTRICT OF MONTREAL.

ARTICLE XXIII-On some of the Rocks and Fossils occurring near Phillipsburgh, Canada East. By E. BILLINGS, F.G.S., Geological Survey of Canada.

1. MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE AND UNDERLYING Slate.

In the neighbourhood of Phillipsburgh, on the eastern side of Missisquoi Bay, (which forms the northern extremity of Lake Champlain,) there is an extensive exposure of limestone occupying an area of about nine miles in length by two miles in width, arranged in a series of long irregularly parallel ridges, presenting low broken escarpments on their western faces, and gentle slopes on the eastern. The direction of these ridges is for the greater part nearly north and south, and the dip of the strata in general towards the east, at an angle of from 10° to 30°; but in some places for short distances it is from 30° to 80°. On the western side of this rocky tract, next to the bay, the strata are composed principally of magnesian limestone, often arenaceous, and in places traversed by veins and filled with irregular nodules of white quartz. Interstratified with this there are some beds of a nearly pure limestone, very compact and crystalline in texture, and usually white, or white clouded with various shades of grey. There are also occasionally to be met with, beds of limited extent, or rather lenticular masses of a hard white, or yellowish white sandstone, intercalated between the strata of limestone. It is difficult to ascertain precisely the thickness of these rocks, but it cannot be much less than 400 feet. They constitute the lower half of the series of limestones exposed in this vicinity, and along the shore of the bay south of Phillipsburgh, they rest upon a formation of hard slates, of a dark grey or blackish colour, with numerous seams of white calcareous spar. These slates dip towards the east, at an angle of from 30° to 50°, while the limestones which lie upon them have a dip of from 10° to 30° in nearly the same direction. Near the wharf, just below the old block-house, the slates constitute the lower 20 feet of the cliff, but about half a mile south, the limestone comes down to the water's edge. Further along the slates appear again at the base of the cliff, with the limestones above them. At the Province line, one mile and three quarters south of the wharf, the limestones once more reach the water, but the slates after a short interval are again exposed in the flat point on the north side of the mouth of the Rock river.