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Show 1900.] MR. S. L. HINDE ON EAST-AFRICAN MAMMALS. 267 Mr. Sclater with the request that he would deposit them in the British Museum. Prof. Bell stated that to the already good collection there thev would be a valuable and welcome addition. Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., exhibited a specimen of Polypterus lapradii Steindachner, with large external gills, which had been recently brought home from the Senegal by M . P. Delhez. This fish measured 390 millimetres, and was therefore the largest on record in which this larval character had been retained. In connection with this interesting example, Mr. Boulenger also exhibited a full-grown female of the C o m m o n Newt (31olge vulgaris), from the environs of ATienna, bearing well-developed external gills. Mr. S. L. Hinde read a series of field-notes on the Mammals which he had met with during five years' residence in East Africa, and illustrated them with lantern-slides from photographs of the animals taken in their native surroundings. Mr. Hinde made the following preliminary remarks :- The B. E. A. Protectorate, for the purpose of description, may be divided into two parts, the inhabited and the uninhabited. The inhabited ranges of hills are practically devoid of big game. The uninhabited country may be divided into two sections : regions of less than 3000 ft. above the sea-level, and regions more than 3000 ft. above the sea-level. The regions below 3000 ft. are, for the most part, densely covered with thorny jungle. The water-supply is small during the greater part of tbe year. In this dense jungle, eland, lesser kudu, oryx, impala, zebra, bushbuck, lions, and an occasional rhinoceros are to be found, but from the nature of the country and climate they are sufficiently protected from extermination by hunters without the necessity of legislation. Above 3000 ft. the game-country consists of rolling grass plains, interspersed in places with thin bush. In these plains the great herds of antelopes, zebras, & c which now live and graze will soon be exterminated, unless the game-laws are enforced. One of the factors instrumental in aiding the escape of game is here absent. The ordinary hunter has to find his game, and this is often the most difficult part of the day's work. On large flat expanses the hunter can always see his quarry, and his whole time may therefore be given to stalking or killing it. I should like to see animals from our Protectorate largely imported into the British Isles, and am convinced that they would both live and breed well in our parks, moors, and gardens, with little or no trouble about acclimatization. On the uplands of East Africa, the zebra, the white-bearded gnu, Coke's hartebeest, impala, waterbuck, Grant and Thomson's gazelles, the lesser reedbuck, and many other animals live in the open without any protection from the biting night-winds, rains, and intense heat. The temperature in the shade often varies from under 40° Fahrenheit at night, to over 80° in the daytime. During a very wet year at Fort Smith, in the Kikuyu district, waterbuck, Grant's and |