OCR Text |
Show 402 ON A REPORTED DISCOVERY OF DODO's BONES. [May 20, The Rev. Canon Tristram, F.R.S., F.Z.S., gave an account of his recent visit to the rock of Zalmo in the Canaries, where he obtained specimens of Simony's Lizard (Lacerta simonyi)1. The following papers were read :- 1. On the reported Discovery of Dodo's Bones in a Cavern in Mauritius. By Sir E D W A R D N E W T O N , K.C.M.G., F.L.S., C.M.Z.S. [Received April 30, 1890.] At a meeting of the Society, November 3rd, 1885 (P. Z. S. 1885, p. 719), an extract from a letter addressed to the Secretary by Mr. J. Caldwell, C.M.Z.S., of Mauritius, was read announcing the finding by one of his collectors of a hitherto unknown deposit of bones of the Dodo (Didus ineptus) in a small cavern in the island. Nothing further has been heard, I believe, of the supposed discovery, and Mr. Caldwell died a few months after he had made his communication to the Society. I have, however, just received a letter from Mr. Evenor Dupont, a well-known shell-collector of Mauritius, with an endorsement by Mr. C. E. Bewsher, C.M.Z.S., which I think leaves no doubt that the late Mr. Caldwell had been imposed upon, and that the bones in question were not those of the Dodo. Mr. Dupont writes :- "Port Louis, Mauritius, March 20, 1890. " .... I write to correct a statement made by the late Mr. Caldwell, and published in Proceedings of the Zoological Society, to the effect that Dodo hones have been found in a cavern in Mauritius. Mr. Caldwell, I believe, was induced to make this statement on the faith of a story told him by one of our native collectors (a Creole) here who brought him the bones. Tbe whole thing was a fraud, and I am afraid the bones were not those of the Dodo, but Turkey's. I searched for them without success in Mr. Caldwell's collections when they were sold after his death. I have never heard of any Dodo bones being found except in a marsh at Flacq (by Mr. Ange Regnard, one bone, doubtful) and iu the Mare aux Songes at Grand Port. I am the more inclined to discredit the story of the Cave bones, as these men, who for years have made a business of hunting for specimens of Natural History (one of whom brought the bones to Mr. Caldwell), have more than once tried to pass off doctored shells as new species and not always without success." Mr. Bewsher endorses this by writing : - " On m y return to Mauritius two years ago, I went very carefuly into this question of the Cave bones, and the result of m y enquires led m e to the same conclusion as m y friend Dupont. I fully endorse all he has said, and would add that Mr. Caldwell was in very failing health both bodily and mentally lately, and so the cunning Creole imposed on him more easily." 1 See above, p. 354. |