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Show 42 THE SECRETARY ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. [Feb. 6, ruins of ancient cities, and under the foundations of old walls, or else led into the fissures of natural rocks. In the wooded districts we also noticed two or three species of Dormice or Palm-rats, all with tails more or less bushy, which eluded us. The specimen which I exhibit of the Eliomys melanurus of Wagner (Abh. bay. Ak. Wiss. iii. p. 176, pl. ii. fig. 1), belongs to the only species obtained in m y visit to Moab with which I had not previously met. W e obtained two specimens, one among the ruins of U m Rasas, standing in a treeless waste, the other at the old Roman city of Ziza. They were both trapped in their runs, near the mouth of a hole in the old wall. When let loose in a box, Eliomys is a very beautiful and interesting creature. The-face, with the two broad black lines running to behind the ears, bordered with a fringe almost white on either side, and the large and moving ears, is most winning; and the tail as it moves slowly is curled up over its back, like a Squirrel's; but in running it is carried behind it. Altogether it is very squirrellike in its movements. There is no difference in markings between the sexes; we procured one example of each. One of these is in my collection; the other is in the possession of its captor, the Rev. Mowbray Trotter, of Sheffield. I much regret that I am unable to throw any further light on the habits of this rare and interesting creature; but the locality where our specimens were found confirms the account given by Wagner, that it inhabits holes in the ground. It is somewhat curious that no structural difference of any importance can be detected between it and its arboreal congeners. So far as I know, only two specimens are known to have existed in collections before we met with it in Moab. These were the types of Wagner's description, brought from the Sinaitic peninsula by Von Schubart; and as Wagner's illustration is rude and uncharacteristic (the animal being represented on a branch of a tree), one of our examples has been figured in the accompanying drawing (Plate VI.) in a more natural attitude. February 6, 1877. Osbert Salvin, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of January 1877. The total number of registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of January was 46, of which 27 were by presentation, 17 by purchase, and 2 were received on deposit. The total number of departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 76. |