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Show 268 MR. W. BATESON ON A CASE OF [Mar. 20, Thomson's gazelles, and bushbucks lived healthily and well, though they were confined in the Fort Square, where for weeks together their feet and legs were never dry. Thomson's Gazelle bred for two generations in the Fort Square, and then all the animals died of rinderpest. This is a curious point, as none of these species suffer from rinderpest in their wild state. From what I have seen of game, with the exception of elephant and rhinoceros, I am of opinion that they are not naturally timid. A railway train does not alarm the majority of animals, their curiosity at first draws them quite close to it; but within a few days of the establishment of a railway in a district, trains may pass noisily through a herd of game and few of them will even cease grazing. It would seem that animals, and antelopes in particular, are only afraid of what they have, in past experience, found to be dangerous. In most districts they have learnt that human beings represent danger, but in the country of the Masai, who do not hunt, the game take little or no notice of man. W h e n horses were first brought to the country, in districts where game was constantly hunted, a mounted man could approach wild animals closely, but the moment he dismounted they fled. It is probable that antelopes only distinguish man under certain conditions ; they apparently recognize him as an animal that walks erect, with a small head, and no neck or horns. In proof of this, it has been noticed that a m a n with a large load on his head can approach antelopes much nearer than a m a n without one ; to their view, the man with tbe load, perhaps, seems to be a thick-necked animal whose head is out of all proportion to his body, and w h o m they have had no cause to fear. I have seen lions standing within 50 yards of a train, showing neither sign of fear nor intention of retreating, until the train pulled up and one or two men alighted. Seeing their well-known enemies close to them, the lions turned and trotted away. The slides now exhibited are from photographs taken by m e of animals in their natural surroundings. Those of the dead animals, with perhaps one exception, were taken without disturbing or arranging them in any way. The following papers were read:- 1. On a Case of Homceosis in a Crustacean of the Genus Asellus-Antennule replaced by a Mandible. By W . B A T E S O N , M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S. [Received March 20, 1900.] The subject of this note is a male specimen of Asellus aquaticus (an Isopod Crustacean) in which the left antennule is represented by a mandible. The specimen was noticed when alive by M r . J. J. Lister among |
