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Show 1878.] THE SECRETARY ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. 441 May 7, 1878. F. Du Cane Godman, Esq., V.P., in tbe Chair. The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of April 1878 : - The total number of registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of April was 76, of which 33 were by presentation, 26 by purchase, 3 by exchange, 8 by birth, and 6 were received on deposit. The total number of departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 90. The most noticeable additions during the month of April were as follows :- 1. A Squirrel, from Ecuador (Sciurus stramineus), of a species new to the Society's collection. Mr. Alston, who has been paying special attention to the American Sciuridse, has kindly furnished me with the subjoined note on this species. "The Squirrel from Ecuador is certainly the same as Gray's Macroxus fraseri1 ; but I am convinced that this is a synonym of Sciurus stramineus, Eydoux et Souleyet2. S. nebouxii of Is. Geoffroy3 will doubtless prove the same; but I hope very shortly to be able to examine the types of both species. Mr. J. A. Allen4 has lately referred three specimens from Ecuador to S. hypopyrrhus, Wagl., principally on the strength of their harsh sparse fur and long narrow tails. The last, however, seems to m e to be a very variable character • and one of these specimens, which Mr. Allen kindly lent me, agrees very well with our bushy-tailed individual, as well as with Gray's types. The irregular white spots and markings seem characteristic of this species, but are not constant, and, when present, vary in every example. S. stramineus was described from Omatope, and S. nebouxi from Payta, Peru, while M. fraseri and Mr. Allen's specimens were from Ecuador." 2. A male Beisa Antelope (Oryx beisa), presented by H.M. the Sultan of Zanzibar, and kindly brought home for the Society by Capt. Pasley of H.M.S. ** Simoom,' April 27th. Our excellent correspondent Dr. Kirk, H.B.M. Consul at Zanzibar, to whose kind offices we owe this valuable animal, tells me that it was obtained in the southern part of the Somali country. Along with it the Sultan sent a specimen of a " Dwarf Koodoo, quite different from the common species." This would probably be Strepsiceros imberbis, Blyth, of which we have never yet received an example. It is much to be regretted that this animal died on the passage home. The following papers were read:- 1 Ann. & Mag. N. H., 3rd ser. vol. xx. p. 430 (1867). a Zool. Voy. la Bonite, vol. i. p. 37, atlas, Mamm. pl. ix. (1841). 3 Zool. Voy. la Venus, p. 163, atlas, Mamm. pl. xii. (1855). * Mon. N. Am. Rodent, p. 740. PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1878, No. XXIX. 29 |