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Show 256 ON GIRAFFES T H A T HAVE LIVED IN T H E GARDENS. [Apr. 5, Caeca: whether functional or not. Tongue: its shape. Food.-Two principal divisions, i. e. Phytophagous or Zoophagous, with occasional subdivisions such as Herbivorous, Frugi-vorous, Piscivorous, Insectivorous, etc. List of Characters emploged occasionally. Shape of bill. Pattern of colour. Number of rectrices; and mode of overlapping of wing-coverts, according to Goodchild (P. Z.S. 1886, pp. 184-203). Vomer. Pneumatic foramen of humerus. Supraorbital glands. Crop. Penis. Certain wing-muscles according to Fuerbringer. Mode of life: Aquatic, Terrestrial, Aerial, Diurnal, Nocturnal, Rapacious, etc. Mode of nesting: breeding in holes. Structure of eggs. Geographical distribution. April 5, 1892. W . T. Blanford, Esq., F.R.S., F.Z.S., in the Chair. The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of March 1892:- The total number of registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of March was 107, of which 5*7 were by presentation, 17 by birth, 23 by purchase, 4 by exchange, and 6 were received on deposit. The total number of departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 96. Among the deaths, I regret to have to announce that of the last of the Society's stock of Giraffes-a male, purchased Jan. 27th, 1879. W e are now, therefore, for the first time since the arrival of the four original Giraffes on the 24th of May, 1836, without any representative of this Mammal in our series. Nor does there seem to be at present much chance of our being able to supply the deficiency. Owing to the closure of the Soudan by the Mahdists, the supplies of this and other large African Mammals, which were formerly obtained vid Cassala and Suakim, have ceased, and, so far as I can make out, with the exception of a single old female (for which an exorbitant price is demanded), there are now no living Giraffes in the market. From the table which I now exhibit, it will be seen that there have been 30 individuals of the Giraffe in the Society's Gardens since 1836, of which 17 have been born there, and 13 have been acquired by purchase. Of these 30, one was presented to the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland in 1844, five have been sold at prices varying from .£450 to ^€150, and the remainder have died in the Gardens. |