JOURNAL OP THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 01' PHILADELPHIA VOL. IV PART II. PHILADELPHIA PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY, Blf J. HARDING. 1825 CONTENTS OF VOL. IV. PART II. Officers of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- phia, for the year 1825. ... 201 On the fresh water and land Tortoises of the United States. By Thomas Say. ... 203 Observations on the Zinc Ores of Franklin and Sterling, Sussex county, New Jersey. By G. Troost, M. D. 220 Notice of the Plesiosaurus, and other Fossil Reliquiae, from the State of New Jersey. By Richard Har- lan, M. D. - - - - 232 Description of three new species of Coluber, inhabiting the United States. By Thomas Say. - - 237 Description of two species of Ljnnaean Lacerta, not be- fore described, and construction of the new genus Cyclura. By Richard Harlan, M. D. - - 242 Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson's Ornitho- logy. By Charles Bonaparte. (Continued.) - 251 Descriptions of four new species of the Linnsean genus Blennius, and a new Exocetus. By William W. Wood. --.... 278 Description of a new Species of Biped Seps. By Richard Harlan, M. D. - - - 284 Description of a new species of Scincus. By Richard Harlan, M. D. - - - - 286 On two genera and several species of Crinoidea. By Thomas Say. - 2SP Description of two new species of Agama. By R. Har- lan, M. D. - - - - - 296 An account of a new species of the genus Arvicola. By George Ord. ..... 305 XV CONTENTS. Description of a new species of Salamander. By Wil- liam W. Wood. - - - - 306 Descriptions of new Hemipterous Insects, collected in the expedition to the Rocky Mountains, perform- ed by order of Mr. Calhoun, Secretary of War, under command of Major Long. By Thomas Say. - - - - - - 307 A new genus of Mammalia proposed, and a description of the species upon which it is founded. By T. Say and G. Ord. - - - - 345 Description of a new species of South American Frin- gilla. By Charles Bonaparte. ... 350 Description of a new species of Mammalia, whereon a genus is proposed to be founded. By T. Say and G. Ord. ----- 352 Remarks on the floating apparatus, and other peculiari- ties, of the genus Janthina. By Reynell Coates, M. D. - - - - - - 356 Description of two new species of the Linnaean genus Blennius. By C. A. Lesueur. - - 361 Description of a new species of Trilobite. By J. J. Bigsby, M. D. - On a new species of Modiola. By Thomas Say. Description of ten species of South American Birds. Charles Bonaparte. ... Description of two new species of Mexican Birds. Charles Bonaparte. ... Catalogue of the Library. (Continued.) List of donors to the Library. List of donations to the Museum, with donors' names. Alphabetical Index. .... Plates of Volume IV. - - Addenda et Corrigenda. 296 AGAMA- I think it highly probable that the branchial ap- paratus communicated with the surrounding fluid through the pores of the ambulacra, by means of filamentous processes ; these may also have per- formed the office of tentacula in conveying the food to the mouth, which was, perhaps, provided with an exsertile proboscis ; or may we not rather suppose that the animal fed on the minute beings that abounded in the sea water, and that it obtain- ed them in the manner of the Ascidia, and by tak- ing them in with the water. The residuum of digestion appears to have been rejected through the mouth. Description of two new Species of Agama. By R. Harlan, M. D. Read December 21, 1824. Agama. 1. A. vultuosa. PI. xix. Corpore passim cinereo^ collo subtus longitudinaliter plicato ; cauda tereti longa ; squamis rhomboideis, carinatis ; dorso, an- tice, capiteque postice, subcristatis. Total length nine inches and eight-tenths ; from the commencement of the snout to the posterior extremities two inches and eight-tenths ; length of the tail seven inches ; length of the jaws nine- tenths. Top of the head clothed with numerous small smooth scales reversely imbricate; tym- panum large, elliptical ; two or three small spines ; AGAMA. 297 pointing backwards, immediately above and be- hind the ears ; eyes large ; palpebral circular, de- pressed, clothed with minute granuliform scales a fold of skin projecting laterally, commences at the nostrils and extends over the superior por- tions of the orbits, which gives the animal a su- percilious, frowning aspect ; the scales on the lon- gitudinal fold beneath the throat, have their inferior borders slightly elevated ; a crest formed of lan- ceolate, thin, elevated and pointed scales, com- mencing on the occiput, becomes gradually obso- lete about the middle of the back, being most prominent on the nucha, one large scale in the centre of the occiput at the commencement of the crest. The two middle toes of the hind feet very long, the nails are compressed, hooked, and black on their upper surface ; scales of the lower surface of the body less prominently carinated ; tail more than twice the length of the body. The genus Agama, originally established by Brongniart and Latreille, from the Iguana and Stellion, is divided into five sections, to which may be added the " Agama collaris," Say, described in Major Long's expedition to the Rocky Moun- tains, which can be referred only to Daudin's fourth section, or " les Agames lezardets," the Agamas of this section having like the lizards, plates on the head, and a row of porous grains under each thigh : one species only has hitherto been described as pertaining to this section : viz. VOL. IV. MARCH. 1825. 38 ; 298 AGAMA. Agama marmorata, Daud. The collaris is still more nearly allied to the lizards, being entirely destitute of carina, even to the end of the tail. The very beautiful little animal which forms the subject of the present description, belongs evidently to the second section of Daudin, or the Agama's, properly so called, which includes eleven distinct species ; " they all have the skin covered with small scales, without any appearance of warts, with the body spare, and the tail cylindrical, elon- gated." To neither of the species hitherto described, can the present subject be referred; it approaches in some respects the Agama calotis, Daud. or the L. calotis, Linn, from which, nevertheless, it is separated by several important particulars among others, by the absence of lateral stripes, by the difference in the form and size of the dor- sal crest ; by the spines behind the ears ; the form of the eye ; the presence of the superciliary ridges, and longitudinal fold of skin beneath the throat, &c. Our species most nearly resembles the Agama colonorum, Daudin, or the L. agama, Linn, which inhabits the West Indies, from which, however, it is distinguished by the colour, which is bluish in A. colonorum, " Colore pallide caeru- les sub-virescente ;" by the form of the head, which is thick and clumsy in the last mentioned species, and beautifully proportioned in the mil- ; AGAMA. 299 tuosa; by the form of the scales on the back of the head and neck, which are thin, elongated and prickled over with small spines, " Collo supra capitique postice aculeatis;" by the absence of spines behind the ears in the colonorum, and in the proportional length of the tail, which is only half the total length in the last named species, which differs also from the present species in the form of the dorsal crest and scales ; the latter are roughened by tubercles prickled over with very little spines.* For the opportunity of making the above ob- servations, I am indebted to the politeness of Dr. R. Coates, who lately brought the specimen from Calcutta, in the neighbourhood of which city this reptile abounds ; it for the most part frequents gardens. The specimen is preserved in spirits. 2. A. cornuta. PI. xx. Corpore depresso ovato, scabro ; supra, fusco-variegato ; subtus albido ; ca- pite supra quadrangulare ; cauda corpore sesqui- breviore. Total length four inches ; length of the tail one inch five-tenths ; length of the head six-tenths breadth between the eyes five-tenths ; length of the body from the nucha to the posterior part of * Cuvier, in his Regne animal, has constructed the genus Calotes, from the genus Agama of Daudin, among which he would most probably include the vultuosa, but as this species, with the exception of the dorsal crest, corresponds with the Agama's, I prefer classing it with the latter. 300 AGAMA. the thighs, two inches; greatest breadth one inch. The form of the body is nearly elliptical, flattened vertically, and umbilicate at the sides, covered over above with minute scales of various lengths and irregular forms; their inferior borders point- ing outwards, giving a prickly, scabrous appear- ance, as if shagreened ; a groove commences at the nucha and runs the whole length of the spine, be- coming obsolete on the base of the tail ; the sides of this groove are formed by slightly elevated scales ; the bottom of very minute scales compact- ly imbricate ; sides of the body furnished with a whitish fringe, commencing immediately above the axilla?, and extending to the flanks ; a smaller one immediately beneath, running parallel, be- tween the anterior and posterior extremities, se- parating the back from the abdomen ; the scales on the abdomen, rhomboidal, small, imbricate, and disposed in transverse rows ; the breast and ex- terior of the thighs and legs, clothed with oblong, carinate scales, with their inferior borders elevated and pointed ; scales on the interior of the legs and thighs minute, compactly imbricate, and for the most part not carinate ; head flattened on top be- tween the eyes ; a slightly projecting ridge over the orbits, lined with five or six small, oblong plates ; top of the head clothed with minute ver- rucose plates, (or scales not imbricate ;) snout ra- pidly attenuated, forming with the top of the head an acute angle; occiput descending backwards AGAMA.