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Show 416 DR. C. I. FORSYTH MAJOR OX DENTAL [Mar. 15, March 15, 1904. Dr. H E N R Y W O O D W A R D , F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. The Secretary read the following report on the additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie in February 1904 :- The registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of February were 68 in number. Of these 31 were acquired by presentation and 12 by purchase, 19 were received on deposit and 6 by exchange. The total number of departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 89. Among the additions special attention may be called to :- 1. Two Asiatic Wapiti, presented by the President on Feb. 23, probably representing a distinct subspecies. 2. A stallion Kiang (Equus hemionus), obtained by purchase on Feb. 26. Mr. Frank Slade, F.Z.S., exhibited and made remarks upon a living Bantam hen which had on each of her wings a well-developed thumb and claw. Dr. C. I. Forsyth Major, F.Z.S., exhibited some dental peculiarities in a Rodent (Hystrix leucurct Sykes), a Springbok Antelope (Antidorcas euchore (Zimm.)), and a Tertiary Shrew (" Sorex pusillus H. v. Mey., var. grivensis Dep."), and made the following remarks:-The specimens exhibited have in common the peculiarity of possessing additions to what is or is believed to be the normal number of teeth in their respective groups; otherwise, however, these peculiarities belong to very different categories. The specimens are:- I. Cranium of an Indian Porcupine, Hystrix leucura Sykes, $ (text-fig. 79, p. 417), showing in the maxillary five cheek-teeth, four being the usual number. The skull, which is of unusually large size (basal length=143"5 millim.), was placed in m y hands by Prof. G. B. Howes, to whom it had been presented by Captain Stewart R. Douglas. The locality given is Datta Khel, Tochi Valley, Bunnu District, Punjab. Variations in the number of teeth are exceedingly rare in Rodentia, if we except one family, the Bathyergidae. Almost the only case recorded in literature of a supernumerary tooth in another family is the one mentioned by Charles Darwin, in the skull of the lop-eared variety of the domestic rabbit; in that case "there was an additional molar tooth on each side of the upper jaw, between the molars and premolars; but these two teeth did not correspond in size." * * Charles Darwin, " The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication," 2nd ed. vol. 1. p. 125 (1875).-Only one similar case amongst Leporidse has since been recorded, curiously enough in the very same variety of the domestic rabbit • the supernumerary tooth was, however, present on one side only (H. v. Nathusius' |
