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Show 632 ON AFRICAN FOREST-PIGS. [June 19, June 19, 1906. Sir E dmu nd L o d er , Bt., Vice-President, in the Chair. The Secretary read the following report on the additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie during the month of May 1906 :- The number of registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of May was 391. Of these 169 were acquired by presentation, 25 by birth, 14 by purchase, 179 were received on deposit and 4 in exchange. The number of departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 229. Among the additions special attention may be called to :-- Two Black-footed Cats (Felis nigripes) from the Zambesi, new to the Collection, presented by Mr. A. W. Guthrie on May 26th. A male Eland (Taurotragus oryx) presented by the Duke of Bedford, K.G., President, on May 16th. Three Thrush-like Bulbuls (Ixocincla crassirostris) from the Seychelles, a Black Hang-nest (Cassidix oryzivora) from Brazil, new to the Collection, and three Red-crowned Pigeons {Alectrcencis pulcherrima) from the Seychelles, presented by the Earl of Crawford, K.T., F.R.S., F.Z.S., on May 14th. The Hon. Walter Rothschild, Ph.D., F.Z.S., exhibited specimens of the Forest-Pigs Hylochcerus meinertzhageni, Potomochoerus chceropotcimus dcemonis, and Potomochoerus johnstoni, and made the following remarks :- The adult male of Hylochcerus meinertzhageni Thomas is distinguished at a glance from Phacochcerus by the absence of the second pair of " warts " behind the tusks and the presence of gigantic warty excrescences below the eyes, some three times the size of those in Phacochcerus. It is also covered with much longer and thicker hair than Pliacochoerus. The specimen exhibited is from the Nandi Forest. Potamochcerus choeropotamus clcemonis Major is distinguished at once by its intense black colour. The specimen exhibited is from Kilima-njaro. The male of Potamochcerus johnstoni Major has the pelage dirty red mixed with a few black hairs, and it is generally intermediate in colour between that of Potomochcarus chceropotcimus of S. Africa and P. porcus of W. Africa. The skull shows the same distinctive features pointed out by Dr. Forsyth Major in P. Z. S. 1897, pp. 367-368. The supra-occipital is exactly as in the $ type, hardly incised at all, but the malar and squamosal are enormously thickened and shortened, more as in P . larvatus. The portion of the maxillary containing the tusk, however, is very attenuated, and though an old beast the tusk-stump is small. The specimen was obtained at Fort Jameson, N.E. Rhodesia. |