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Show 792 MR. A. H. EVERETT ON ANOA DEPRESSICORNIS. [Nov. 5, The Secretary read the following extract from a letter addressed to him by Dr. A. B. Meyer, C.M.Z.S., of the Royal Zoological Museum, Dresden : - " Mr. Van Musschenbroek, the well-known discoverer of Diphyllodes gulielmi III., tells m e that one of his colleagues in the Moluccas received about ten years ago from the west coast of New Guinea (via Aru Islands) a Bird-of-Paradise as large as P. apoda, but in general like P. minor, with this difference, that the whole body was covered with orange-coloured feathers. This bird was presented to the king of Holland ; but never was any thing heard of it again. In the year 1875 Mr. Van Musschenbroek saw in the hands of Prof. Steere, at Menado, among a collection of bird-skins which the latter had bought at Amboina, a specimen of P. minor which reminded him of the orange Bird-of-Paradise mentioned above. This specimen was spotted with yellow all over; but it was a bad skin, and gave Mr. Van Musschenbroek the impression that it had belonged to a sick bird. " Are these individual varieties of P. minor ? or have we to deal with a new and unknown Bird-of-Paradise?" A communication was read from the Marquis of Tweeddale, President, pointing out that a correction made in the proof of his last paper on Philippine Birds, anted, p. 611, had been through some mistake overlooked. The correct specific name of the Polyplectron there mentioned, page 623, was napoleonis, Lesson, not emphanes, Temminck, Lesson having given a description of his bird in the additions and corrections to his ' Traite d'Ornithologie,' page 650. The following extract was read from a letter addressed to Lord Tweeddale by Mr. A. H. Everett, dated Singapore, July 21, 1878 :- " Just before leaving Manilla I paid a visit to the small museum attached to the College of St. Thomas. There were a few bird-skins ; but the room was very dark, and, being with a party of friends, I could not make any satisfactory notes. M y visit was, however, repaid by finding a specimen of the Wild Ox of Celebes (Anoa depressicornis), which had been brought from Mindoro. I had been led to suspect its existence in that island, but had hitherto failed to get any tangible evidence. I cannot say whether the Philippine animal is identical with that found in Celebes or not. The Professor of Natural History, who had no idea of the interest attaching to his specimen, although he had labelled it correctly, said that he had never heard of the Anoa being found at that part of the world, except in the rugged interior of Mindoro, where, however, it abounded. It is not easy to weigh the full import of the occurrence of this singular animal in the Philippines until something more is known about the fauna of Mindoro. 1 had previously been disposed to doubt the existence of another Celebesian animal, the black Cynopithecus, in the islands; but I now feel less confidence on this point, and it is quite possible that it may turn up in Mindoro." |