| OCR Text |
Show 430 MB. OLDFIELD THOMAS O N [May 4, May 4, 1897. HERBERT DRUCE, Esq., F.Z.S., in the Chair. The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of April 1897 :- The' total number of registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of April was 99, of which 40 were by presentation, 1 by exchange, 43 by purchase, 8 were received on deposit, and 7 were born in the Menagerie. The total number of departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 85. Amongst these attention may be called to :- 1. A fine young male specimen of the Wild Ass of Somaliland (Equus somallcus), obtained by purchase on _ April 30th. This species was originally described in the Society's 'Proceedings' for 1884 (p. 540, pl. 1.). 2. A pair of Smith's Bronze-winged Pigeons (Geophaps smithi) from Northern Queensland, purchased April 29th. These are the first specimens of this beautiful Ground-Dove (figured by Gould, ' Birds of Australia,' vol. v. pl. 68) that have been exhibited in the Gardens. Mr. Oldfield Thomas exhibited a selection of the small Mammals collected by Mr. Alexander Whyte during his expedition to the Nyika plateau and the Masuku mountains, N . Nyasa, and presented ' to the British Museum by Sir Harry Johnston, K.C.B. Mr. Thomas stated that the collection contained the first specimens he had seen of several of the species obtained by the German traveller Dr. Bohm in Marungu, such as Rhynchocyon reichardl, " Mus " kaiseri, and Gerbillus h'dhml. There were also examples of several southern forms not previously recorded north of the Zambesi, such as Lepus crassicaudatus and Xerus cepapl, specimens of many S. N}^asa species already obtained by Mr. Whyte at and near Zomba, and, finally, examples of the following new species :- XERUS * (PARAXERUS) LUCIFER, sp. n. Size about as in the Common Squirrel. Fur soft, thick, and long. General colour brilliant rufous or orange-rufous all over, except a broad patch on the back, from the withers to the rump, which is shining black, with a few rufous hairs intermixed. Throughout the fur is blackish slaty at base, the tips being rufous. The rufous colour varies in intensity, being deepest and reddest on the head and hips, brightest and tending most to orange on the forearms, hands, and feet, while on the flanks and sides of the neck it is more or less suffused with olivaceous yellow. Belly 1 For the reasons which have induced the use of the generic name Xerus for this animal and its allies, see Major, P.Z. S. 1893, p. 179. |
