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Show 702 DR. E. H .MILTON ON HYDROPOTES INERMIS. [Dec. 5, and advances furthest to the south. I have seven specimens from the woody district of Tucuman, near Invernada (see m y La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 499), where the bird was found to be common. It is esteemed good meat, and I have eaten it with pleasure. The species named in the same work Penelope pipile is that which you call Pipile cumanensis, and occurs also, but rarely, in the woods of Tucuman, where is likewise found, and not so rarely, Penelope boliviano. I have seen there two specimens just killed in the woods, and presented to a friend of mine, who was intending to make a good dinner of them with his friends. It is also said that a species of Crax lives in the same forests; but I have not yet seen specimens of it. I suppose it must be Crax sclateri. Mr. Sclater exhibited a skin of the Water-Opossum (Chironedes variegatus), which had been sent to him by Mr. Robert B. White, C.M.Z.S., from Medellin, U.S. of Columbia. Mr. White stated that this animal was abundant in the river Medellin (a confluent of the Cauca), which, Mr. Sclater observed, was quite a new locality for it*. Dr. E. Hamilton exhibited a skull of the new Chinese Deer lately described by Mr. Swinhoe (P.Z.S. 1870, p. 89) as Hydropotes inermis, and made the following remarks :- " I exhibit an adult shull of Hydropotes inermis, being the first mature specimen which has been sent to this country, those obtained by Mr. Swinhoe being the skulls of young animals. The animal from which this skull was taken was shot in the beginning of this year by Mr. T. Annett in the marshy grounds bordering the Yangtsze river, about forty miles from Shanghai. I shall leave the minute description of the skull of this interesting animal to those more qualified than I am, merely remarking that this skull differs from the general description given by Mr. Swinhoe in its larger size, measuring 7 inches in length. There are also six perfect molars on each side, in Mr. Swinhoe's specimen only five. The canine teeth measure 2f inches when out of the jaw, 2 inches when in situ; in Mr. Swinhoe's specimen they measure only 1*1. Unfortunately the lower jaw has been lost in its transmission to England, probably at the Custom House. Another interesting circumstance is, that Mr. Annett corroborates Mr. Swinhoe's remarks as to the fecundity of this animal; he has constantly found five and six foetuses in the doe when they have gralloched the deer, as is customary immediately after it is shot." Professor Newton exhibited the humerus of a species of Pelican found during the past summer in Feltwell Fen, Norfolk, and presented to the Museum of Zoology at Cambridge by Mr. J. H. * I was not aware, when these observations were made, that Chironedes occurs as far north as Costa Eica (see v. Frantzius in Wiegm. Arch. 1869, i. |
