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Show 1878.] MR. P. L. SCLATER ON CICONIA MAGUARI. 633 rowed at intervals all round the garden-walls ; but this wa3 evidently only to try and escape, as she never made a hole large enough to give cover. The day she had the young one she came out during the day ; but not being quite up to grubbing for insects, she went into the stable and remained among the horses grubbing in the dung. After the birth she tried to entice the young Pangolin to suck (apparently), sitting up like a dog when begging, and coiling up the moment she got it in her lap. I could not, however, detect whether she managed to suckle it; indeed I was quite ignorant of the habits of the animal in its natural state. The first day the young one had soft scales ; but they hardened the second day, and it died the same night. The mother wandered about for two days afterwards, then came into the house and died." Mr. Sclater stated that he had, in company with the Superintendent, examined the living examples of Ciconia maguari now in the Society's Gardens, and could confirm what Mr. Ridgway had so clearly described (Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. vol. iv. p. 250) as to extraordinary mimicry of the true rectrices by the elongated upper tail-coverts. The same was also the case with Ciconia episcopus, of which there were also living examples in the Society's Gardens. Mr. Ridgway's generic term Euxenura, however, based on this peculiar structure, had, it appeared, been anticipated by Dr. Cabanis, who, in 1850, had proposed the name Dissoura1 for this form of Stork ; so that the two species should stand for the future as Dissura maguari (Gm.) and D. episcopus (Bodd.). ^ On behalf of Dr. Elliott Coues, C.M.Z.S., two specimens of Synaptomys ceoperi, Bd., were exhibited by Mr. Edward R. Alston. This species, Mr. Alston observed, was the type of Synaptomys, proposed in 1857 by Prof. Baird as a subgenus of Myodes2, and accorded full generic rank by Dr. Coues in 18743. The present specimens were, as far as was known, the first typical specimens sent to Europe. When Mr. Alston wrote his paper "O n the Classification of the Order Glires"4 he was only acquainted with Dr. Coues's preliminary remarks, and hesitated at accepting the full generic value of this form ; he was therefore now desirous of expressing his full recognition of its rank. Synaptomys was particularly interesting as presenting a connecting link between the Lemmings and Field-Voles, combining the general cranial and dental characters of Myodes with the external peculiarities of Arvicola, but differing from both in its grooved upper incisors. Its range was much less boreal than that of the Lemmings, extending as far south as Kansas. The specimens exhibited were destined for the British and Berlin Museums. 1 Cf. Reichenow, J. f. Orn. 1877, p. 168. The name is written Dissoura; Dissura is more simple and more correct. 2 Mamm. N. Amer. pp. xliv, 558. 3 P. Ac. Philad. 1874, p. 192. Cf. Mon. N. Am. Rodent, p. 223. * P. Z. S. 1876, pp. 61-98. PROC. ZOOL. SOC-1878, No. XLI. 41 |
