OCR Text |
Show 2 PROF. NEWTON O N A L E C T O R C E N A S NITIDISSIMA. [Jan. 14, nothing. I hope they may be duly recounted by some one far more fitted than myself to do them justice ; but for m y own part I wish to express an opinion, in which all present I think will join, that the active sympathy which our late President invariably exhibited, not only for those who busied themselves in that branch of study especially affected by himself, but for all working zoologists, requires acknowledgment on the present occasion ; and in these imperfect sentences I have endeavoured to give it utterance." The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of December 1878. The total number of registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of December was 80, of which 42 were by presentation, 33 by purchase, and 5 were received on deposit. The total number of departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 111. The most noticeable additions during the month of December were as follows :- 1. A dark-coloured Lemur new to the Society's collection, which appears to be the Mayotte Lemur (Lemur mayottensis, Schl.). 2. A collection of Lemurs brought to England by Mr. George A. Shaw, who has been resident some years at Fianarantsoa, in the province of Betsileo, in Central Madagascar, and acquired by the Society partly by purchase and partly by presentation. Amongst these are representatives of two species new to the Society's collection- one being a Chirogaleus, and the other Microcebus smithi- besides an example of the little-known Hapalemur simus. Mr. Sbaw has favoured me with some interesting notes upon these little-known animals, which will be read at a future meeting, when I hope to be able to give the exact name of the Chirogaleus, if determinable with our existing knowledge. 3. A female Punjaub Wild Sheep (Ovis cycloceros), presented by Col. W . R. Alexander, having been obtained in the hills between Upper Sind and Beloochistan. Dr. Traquair exhibited a specimen of Alectorcenas nitidissima, an extinct Pigeon of Mauritius, belonging to the Museum of Science and Art of Edinburgh. Prof. Newton made the following remarks upon this specimen:- "Dr. Traquair deserves the best thanks of those present for having been at the trouble of bringing to London and exhibiting here the specimen of Alectorcenas nitidissima now on the table. It had been believed that but two skins of this species existed-one in the Museum at Paris, the other in that of Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. It was therefore with extreme pleasure that, on the 26th of September last, when Dr. Traquair was kindly showing me over the Museum of Science and Art in Edinburgh, I recognized in one of the cases the third example, now before you. "The true history of this beautiful and ill-fated species may be told in a very few words. It would take a long time to recount and re- |