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Show 1885.] MR. J. STOLZMANN ON SEXUAL DIMORPHISM. 421 May 5, 1885. Prof. W. H. Flower, LL.D., V.P.R.S., President, in the Chair. The Secretary read the following report on the additions to Society's Menagerie during the month of April 1880 :- The total number of registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of April was 132, of which 33 were by presentation, 66 by purchase, 12 by birth, one by exchange, and 20 were received on deposit. The total number of departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 117. The most noticeable additions during the month of April were as follows :- 1. A pair of Rhinoceroses, apparently referable to the Sumatran species, Rhinoceros sumatrensis. These are young animals, perhaps about three quarters of their full size, and form an interesting acquisition as being the first pair of any species of this genus that have been together in the Society's Menagerie. They were purchased of Mr. Cross of Liverpool on the 16th of April for the sum of .=£500. 2. A female Tibetan Wild Ass or Kiang (Equus hemionus), deposited by Mr. W . Jamrach on the 7th of April. This is the only example of this species of Wild Ass that we have had in the Gardens since the specimen presented by the late Major W. E. Hay in 1859 \ 3. Two Gouldian Grass-Finches (Poephila gouldia), one adult and one in young plumage, but both supposed to be of the male sex, presented by Mr. C. N. Rosenfeld on April 18th, and new to the Society's collection. It is possible that the controversy respecting the coloration of the sexes of this species2 may be settled upon the death of these specimens. The following papers were read :- 1. Quelques remarques sur le Dimorphisrne Sexuel. Par JEAN S T O L Z M A N N 3. [Received March 3, 1885.] La theorie du transformisme a occupe, dans ces derniers temps, place des plus importantes dans la science, formant, pour ainsi dire, la base des sciences biologiques. II y a cependant une ecole de naturalistes qui s'opposent encore a l'accepter, probablement sous l'influence des anciennes traditions. Neanmoins toute la nouvelle veneration des savants a accepte la theorie de Darwin avec un enthousiasme extraordinaire, la prenant pour point de depart pour toutes les questions de la philosophic naturelle. La majorite des 1 See P. Z. S. 1859, p. 305, pi. lxxiii. 2 See Gould's ' Birds of Australia,' vol. iii. plates 88 and 89. 3 Communicated by M . L. Taczanowski, C.M.Z.S. PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1885, No. XXVIII. 28 |
