OCR Text |
Show 596 JOURNAL OE THE LATE PR. EMIN PASHA. [Nov. 6, work; I can only judge approximately by the old Tortoise at Mauritius, which is twice as big as these and is over 100 years old. "The dimensions of these Tortoises are as follows :- " Mcde :-Length, over curve of back, 42 inches. Height 19 inches. Plastron, 2 6 | inches long, 22 inches wide. " Female :-Length, over curve of back, 4 0 | inches. Height 17 inches. Plastron, 26 inches long, 19 inches wide." The registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of August were 61; of these, 37 were acquired by presentation, 4 by purchase, 5 by birth, and 15 were received on deposit. The number of departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 87. The registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of September were 131; of these, 74 were acquired by presentation, 6 by purchase, 7 by exchange, 7 were bred in the Gardens, and 37 were received on deposit. The number of departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 86. The President stated that he had just received a letter addressed to him by the late Dr. Emin Pasha, C.M.Z.S., without date, but apparently written very shortly before his assassination by the Arabs on the Upper Congo in the autumn of 1892. The letter had been brought from the Congo by M . Dhanis, of the Congo Free State Service, and transmitted to the President by M . Baerts, " Chef de Cabinet" of the Congo Free State at Brussels. It was as follows :- " The notes hereby joined will prove you that I never forgot how kindly you acted in working out the collections previously sent by m e to England. Twice I have tried to forward you specimens I collected, and twice I have been disappointed by the misdirection of m y boxes by those entrusted with them. " The collections now made, and of which the joined notes give some idea, are small, but they hail from the remotest corners of the Continent never before visited by a naturalist, and scarcely to be visited again for years to come. Such is their only merit; if there are novelties amongst them I dare not to decide. Certainly they are a contribution to the knowledge of species as well as of their geographical range, and if they are welcome to you my amplest wishes are fulfilled. " As for some weeks I shall have to stay here, and the Arabs very kindly promise to make their people collect for me, I hope to be able to obtain many interesting objects, amongst which, in first line, I shall try for a White Chimpanzee. " The specimens collected for you shall be forwarded with first opportunity by way of Stanley Falls ', where letters for m e should be addressed, and where you may kindly send whatever you can 1 Those specimens have unfortunately not been recovered. |