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Show 1894.] THE SECRETARY ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. 693 December 4, 1894. HENRY SEEBOHM, Esq., F.Z.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. The Secretary read the following report on the additions to Society's Menagerie during the month of November 1894 :- The total number of registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of November was 169, of which 65 were by presentation, 16 by birth, 8 by purchase, 10 by exchange, and 70 were received on deposit. The total number of departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 122. Amongst the additions I wish to call special attention to the following:- 1. Ten Surinam "Water-Toads (Pipa americana), kindly presented by Mr. F. E. Blaauw, C.M.Z.S., and received November 14th, 1894 These have been placed in one of the large tanks in the Beptile- House, Avhere they are kept at a temperature of between 75° and 80°. They are free swimmers, and in their present stage appear to pass the whole of their time in the water. They were in rather poor condition on arrival, but have since fed well on worms and small fishes, and appear to be thriving. W e may, therefore, hope to see the extraordinary phenomena of their development exhibited in the Gardens. 2. A fine example of Pel's OAVI (Scotopelia peli), brought home from Sierra Leone by the Hon. C. B. Mitford, C.M.Z.S., Deputy Governor of the Colony, and presented November 16th. A single other specimen of this species was received by the Society from the Gambia in 1866. (For a figure of this Owl, see ' Ibis,' 1859, p. 445, pi. xv.) The iris in the present species is dark. 3. Two Tree-Kangaroos from Queensland, received in exchange from the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria, Melbourne, as examples of Bennett's Kangaroo (Dendrolagus bennettianus), which appears not to have yet been sufficiently described1. I exhibit a coloured drawing of this animal by Mr. Smit (Plate X L V L ) . It is apparently quite distinct from Dendrolagus lumholtzi. Mr. Le Souef has kindly sent me a photograph of four examples of this rare animal, taken when high up in a leafless tree in the Zoological Gardens at Melbourne, Avhich I now exhibit. An account of the capture of these interesting animals at "Wyalla, near Bloomfield, in Northern Queensland, by Mr. D. Le Souef will be found in the 'Victorian Naturalist' for April 1894 (vol. xi. p. 11). Mr. Le Souef speaks of them as follows:-"The Tree-climbing Kangaroo (Dendrolagus bennettianus) is generally found on or near the top of these ranges, where the timber is not so high or difficult to climb. They remain during the day on the highest branches of a tree, and descend at night to pass from one tree to 1 See Thomas, ' Catalogue of the Marsupialia and Monotremata in the Collection of the British Museum,' 1888, p. 96. |
