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Show 338 DE. JENTINK ON CERCOPITHECUS ATERRIMUS. [May 7, Count Salvadori's Catalogue of Parrots (see ' Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum,' vol. xx. p. 581) there was but a single specimen of this Parrakeet in the British Museum. The recent voyage of the Earl of Glasgow, Governor of N e w Zealand, in the ' Hinemoa,' to the outlying islands of N e w Zealand, has resulted in the acquisition of several specimens of this rare species. I take this opportunity also of calling attention to the specimens of the Pacific Rat (Mus exulans) obtained by the Governor of N e w Zealand during his recent visit to Sunday Island, Kermadec group, and received March 14,1895, and presented by the Countess of Glasgow. I exhibit a living pair of this interesting Rat, concerning which Mr. 0. Thomas has favoured m e with the following note:- " PACIFIC RAT (MUS exulans). " The Rats from Sunday Island, Kermadec group, apparently belong to a species widely spread over the Pacific, the earliest name of which seems to be Mus exulans, Peale 2 based on Fijian examples. It is possible that examples from the different groups of islands may hereafter show certain differences from each other, but, so far as w e can see at present, all should be united under one beading. Indeed the fine Maori Rat of N e w Zealand (Mus maorium, Hutton2) seems to be very doubtfully separable from the same form, which has probably travelled from island to island in native canoes, or on floating logs & c , long before European ships began to bring over the ubiquitous Grey and Black Rats, which now threaten to exterminate the native species throughout the world." The following extract from a letter addressed to the Secretary by Dr. Jentink, dated Leiden, April 30th, 1895, was read:- " There is in the ' Zoologische Garten,' 1890, pp. 266-269, a paper written by Dr. Oudemans, concerning a living Monkey that Dr. Oudemans described as a new species under the specific title Cercopithecus aterrimus. In this paper Dr. Oudemans states that ' ausgemacht wurele der Affe sei vnrklich eine neue Art! I feel obliged to state that the story is not quite correctly told by Dr. Oudemans, for, when he showed m e his Monkey, and after I had compared it with the large series in our Museum, I informed him that if the animal was an adult specimen it might belong to an undescribed species ; however, if it was a young one I thought it would belong to Cercocebus albigena. "We could not make out whether all the molars were present or not, as the animal would not allow us to examine its dentition. " Shortly afterwards it died, and I purchased the cadaver. It 1 Peale, U.S. Exploring Exped., Mamm. p. 47 (1848). 2 Trans. N. Z. Inst. x. p. 288 (1878). |