OCR Text |
Show 18 and captive state, and notes on their management and feedin0 while in confinement. Mr. W. R. Ocilvie-G rant, F.Z.S., sent for exhibition a named set of the Birds collected in Japan by Mr. M. P. nr eison m connection with the Duke of Bedford's Exploration m ein Asia. No new species were obtained, but several of the specimens were of special interest as illustrating stages of plumage no represented in the British Museum. Mr. R. L ydekk er , F.Z.S., contributed a paper in which he described a transition in the general type of colouring from the wholly black Colobus guereza in one direction, through several intermediate forms, towards the black-and-white C. caudatus, and in another direction towards C. vellerosus. In a second communication Mr. L ydekker described a mounted specimen of the White-maned Serow (Nemorhcedus argyrochcetes Ileude), of Szeclnien, the first example of the species ever received in England, and perhaps in Europe. Mr. Oldfield T homas, F.R.S., F.Z.S., read a paper on the Mammals collected in Japan by Mr. M. P. Anderson for His Grace the Duke of Bedford, and presented by the latter to the National Museum. The collection was one of the most valuable for scientific purposes which had ever been received from any one region. Over 600 specimens had been obtained, belonging to 50 species and subspecies, of which several were described as new. But the chief value of the collection lay in the fine series of properly localised specimens of species which had not been sent to Europe since the time of Temminck's ‘ Fauna Japonica.' By the help of these specimens the distribution of the species was fairly well shown, while the Museum would now possess examples of all the older known species suitable for comparison with their allies from other parts of Eastern Asia, such specimens having been hitherto conspicuous by their absence. Of the new forms special attention was directed to the following :- Evotomys bedfordite, sp. 11. A Craseomys allied to E. rufocanus, but coloured more like E. glareolus, and with a longer, less hairy tail. Dimensions of the type :-Head and body 119 111111. ; tail 47; hind foot 20. Hob. Shinshinotsu, Hokkaido. Type. Male. Original number 23. Evotomys andersoni, sp. 11. Allied to E. bedfordice, but with longer tail and conspicuously less powerful teeth. Dimensions: Head and body 120 mm.; tail 54; hind foot 1 o " D IIah, Tsunagi, N. Hondo. Type. Male. Original number 76. |