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Show 320 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE [Nov. 18, No other member of the Tragelaphince, except the Eland, had horns in the female ; and it was on this character that it was thought that the Bongo should constitute a genus- Boocercus - distinct from Tragelaphus, in which the females were hornless^ It still remained to be verified that the true Bongo of West Africa had also horns in the female, no members of that sex having as yet come to Europe. But the males from the two localities were so similar that it seemed highly improbable that the females should differ in so important a character. Mr 0 Thomas, F.R.S., exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Lydekker (who was unable to attend), the mounted skm of an adult male nf the Pekin0, Deer (Cervus [Pseudaxis\ hortulorum), recent!) presented by the President and the Duchess of Bedford to the British Museum. Mr. Lydekker believed that an adult specimen of this fine stag had not hitherto been figured, and he therefore thought that a figure of the example now exhibited would be desirable in the Society's ‘ Proceedings.' The specimen was m the summer dress. ______ Dr A Smith Woodward, F.R.S., gave an account of some excavations for the discovery of early Pliocene mammalian remains which he had recently made near Concud, in the province of Teruel Spain. The bones had proved to be very abundant in a bed of freshwater marl, but they were in a much more fragmentary condition than those found at Pikermi, in Greece He had discovered evidence of the former existence of species of the o-enera Hipparion, Rhinoceros, and Mastodon, and of several small antelopes, and exhibited some jaws of the first of these genera. Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., remarked as follows upon the birth of an Indian Elephant in the Society's Gardens:- The birth of an Elephant in a menagerie is so rare an event that some notice of the circumstances attending the birth of an Indian Elephant in the Society's Gardens in August last may prove acceptable to the Fellows. During the history of the Society thei e has been no other instance of an Elephant having been born in the Gardens ; and in other menageries such occurrences are extremely rare. A note in the 1 Field ' newspaper of Oct. 25th last sums up the few births in menageries which have been recorded, and they are only two. The Elephant, which has lately given birth to a calf, was deposited in the Gardens on Sept. 19th, 1901, by Messrs. John Sanger & Sons. The Elephant was believed to be in young; but the exact date of impregnation was not known. There were reasons for believing that this took place in April 1900, and in that case the birth might have been expected to have occurred in January or February 1902. Mr. Arthur Thomson, the Society's Assistant Superintendent, reports -1 JRnryeeros Gray nec Lesson. |