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Show 420 MR. BLANFORD ON PARADOXURUS JERDONI. [NOV. 16, There was little doubt of the specific identity of the specimen with that belonging to the Vienna Museum, described by Fitzinger under the name of Cryptophractus pilosus \ and also with two specimens from Guyaquil in the Lima Museum, described and figured by Burmeister as Praopus hirsutus2, if, as was probably the case, the smaller size of the present specimen could be attributed to its not being full-grown. So far as Prof. Flower knew, these were the only published indications of the existence of this somewhat remarkable species, or at all events very distinct variety, of Armadillo, of which no specimen existed in our National collection. Prof. Bell exhibited and made remarks upon an object (apparently of the nature of an amulet) supposed to have been made from some portion of the skin of a mammal. It had been obtained from the natives at Moreton Bay, and sent to Kew, being supposed to be of vegetable origin. Mr. Seebohm exhibited a skin of the Lesser White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons minutus (Anser erythropus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 197), which had been shot on the 16th of September last near Holy Island, on the coast of Northumberland, by Mr. Alfred Crawhall Chapman, of Sunderland. It was the first recorded example of the small form of the White-fronted Goose which had been obtained on the coasts of our islands, and it was especially interesting as being a young bird in first plumage. It proved to be a female on dissection, and bore a remarkable resemblance to the young in first plumage of the dark-bellied or typical form of the Brent Goose, Anser brenta; but its much greater expanse of wing (4 feet) and its large legs and feet, which were yellow-ochre in colour when first shot, precluded the possibility of confounding it with that species. Its very small bill, quite as small as that of the Brent Goose, showed it to be a small example of the small form of the White-fronted Goose, but in so young a bird the white forehead had not yet appeared. Mr. W. T. Blanford exhibited a stuffed skin, the first perfect specimen he had seen, of Paradoxurus jerdoni, described and figured in the Society's Proceedings for 1885 (pp. 613, 802, pi. xlix.). For this specimen, which was killed at Kateri (Kartary) on the Nilgiri hills, Mr. Blanford was indebted to Mr. G. F. Hampson, of Dun-sandle, Ootacamund, who had identified the species from the description, and had confirmed the suggestion already made by Mr. Blanford, /. c. p. 613, that this species inhabits the Nilgiri hills as well as the Animale range. The following papers were read :- 1 Tageblatt, Nr. 32; Versamml. deutsch. Naturf. u. Aerzte, 1856, Nr. 6, S. 123. I am only acquainted with this reference through Fitzinger's subsequent paper, " Die natiirliche Familie der Giirtelthiere (Dasypoder)," in Sitz. der k. Akad. der Wissensch., Band hriv. 1 Abth. (1871). 2 Abhandl. naturf. Gesell. Halle, B. vi. p. 147 (1861). |