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Show 1 9 0 5 .] DR. WALTER KIDD ON PAPILLARY RIDGES IN MAMMALS. 2 9 7 of Rhinoceros (Ji hinoceros bicornis), and made the following remarks:-• " The White Waterbuck was shot in July 1904 011 the light bank of the Guaso Nyiro river, about 20 miles west of the Lorian Swamp, British East Africa, lat. 1° N., alt. above sea 1000 feet. A white doe was alone with the buck. The ordinary Waterbuck seen there were all examples of Kobus ellipsiprymnus. The eyes of this buck were of the normal colour, not pink. " Of the two Rhinoceroses, one was a female and carried two normal and two rudimentary horns. She was shot in August 1904, in dense covert, west of the Jambeni Mountains north-east of Mount Kenia, at an elevation of 4150 feet above the sea. It was not seen till after death what an interesting animal she was. One of the rudimentary horns was between the ears and the other about 4 inches further back. " The other individual was a male, and was shot in September 1904 north of Aberdare range, British East Africa; height above sea 9600 feet. The anterior horn showed abnormal growth due either to an old injury or excessive wearing away of the outer surface from the tip downwards." The Hon. Walter Rothschild, F.Z.S., exhibited specimens of a very rare and interesting Marsupial, hitherto unique, in the Paris Museum, viz. Dactylopsila palpator Milne-Edw., which differed from 1). trivirgatci in possessing an extremely thin, prolonged, second finger. _______ Mr. Rothschild also exhibited two tusks which had been obtained by Baron Maurice de Rothschild during his recent expedition to Abyssinia, They were so unlike the normal tusks of any known animal, that Mr. Rothschild was of opinion that they might belong to some new form. Mr. A. S. Hirst, F.Z.S., exhibited microscopic preparations of anew Hsemosporidian from the blood of an African Stork (Lepto-ptilus crumeniferus). He pointed out that this parasite belonged to the genus Halteridium, but differed from H. dcinilewskyi in its greater size (stade moyen 7-10 p), and also in its method of sporulation, in which the merozoites were more numerous, smaller and arranged in a ball-like rounded mass. The name Halteridium crumenium was proposed for the new species. Dr. Walter Kidd, F.Z.S., read a paper, illustrated by lantern-slides, " On the Papillary Ridges in Mammals, chiefly Primates." The arrangements of the ridges on the hand and foot of 24 species were shown and described, and then functions discussed. Arguments were brought forward to show that their primary function was to increase the delicacy of the sense of touch. 2 1 * |