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Show adult female of the Equine Antelope (Hippotragus equinus), from Bechuanaland, presented by Major Charles Frederick Minchin, D.S.O. No specimen of this Antelope has been received in the Society's Gardens since 1878, and it is now becoming very scarce in South Africa. Mr. Sclater called attention to the specimen of the Greater Bird of Paradise (Paradiseci apoda), now living in the Society's Gardens, which had been received from the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta, on the 15th June, when it was in full dress. It had begun to moult at the end of June, and had shed all its plumes in three nights. (The bird was not observed to cast any plumes during the day.) The bird did not commence to cast its flight-feathers till the beginning of August, and it cast about two feathers per week up to the beginning of November. The new plumes began to show about the last week in August. The bird had now completed its moult, and was in fine health and condition. It was very tame and lively, and came readily to be fed by hand. It was fed upon boiled rice, boiled potatoes, boiled carrots, boiled eggs, bread, maw-seed, and German paste, also on bananas, grapes, pears, and nuts. It has one rany fresh egg per week, a fresh-killed mouse occasionally, and had all the damaged moths in the Insect-house. Of the last-named the bird was particularly fond, as also of small pieces of sweet biscuits. 1902.] DR. HANS GADOW'S RECENT EXPEDITION TO S. MEXICO. 351 Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., exhibited the lower jaw of a Wombat which had died in the Society's Gardens, apparently from peritonitis. The molar teeth on both sides of the jaw had grown inwards so as to confine the tongue below them. Though it was possible to free the tongue by bending it sideways and then pulling it out, it seemed doubtful whether this could have been done by the animal itself during life, or, if so, whether it could have been replaced as it was found after death. The uselessness of the tongue as an aid to mastication must the conditioo ns observable in thi.s spe.cime.n, sni.nocte b.eit aisss. uqmueitde fcroonmceivable that the organ may have been paralyzed, and thus rendered it possible for the teeth to close in above it. The animal was old, having been acquired in 1885. Dr. Hans Gadow, F.R.S., gave an account (illustrated by lantern-slides) of his recent expedition to Southern Mexico. He described the Yalley of Mexico, and discussed the question of the Axolotls and their metamorphosis. He also gave an account of his ascent of the Yolcano of Orizaba-on which he camped for several weeks at various high altitudes, and of the two types of tierra caliente met with on the Atlantic and Pacific slopes, and pointed out the various phases of animal life seen by him in these different districts. |