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Show 1874.] THE SECRETARY ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. 665 known as the King Monkey, but is rare. This form of the Patas, of which we have now two living specimens, nearly resembles the Nisnas Monkey (C. pyrrhonolus) except in having a black nose. It seems to m e quite distinct from the smaller form, which we generally receive as the Patas, and requires further examination. 3. Three Night-Parrots (Stringops habroptilus), purchased November 3rd. Two of these appear to be a pair, agree well together, and appear likely to do well; the third, I regret to say, we have already lost. 4. A male Muntjac (Cervulus), purchased November 6th of the Jardin d'Acclimatation, Paris. This animal is from the French colony of Saigon, and appears to show that the form inhabiting this district is nearly allied to the true C. muntjac. I propose to speak of it more fully in some notes which I have now in preparation upon the Cervuli living in the Society's Gardens. 5. Eighteen Lancelets (Amphioxus lanceolatus), presented Nov. 14th by the Directors of the Zoological Station, Naples, being the first examples of this "invertebrate vertebrate" that have yet reached the Society's Fish-house. 6. A pair of Muntjacs (Cervulus, sp. inc.), from Formosa, presented by Mr. W . P. Galton, November 17th. Of these I shall speak more fully in the paper mentioned above which I have in preparation. 7. Two Agoutis from St. Lucia, West Indies, presented by Mr. Neville Holland, November 24th. In August 1868 we received from Mr. G. H. Hawtayne, of St. Vincent, West Indies, a pair of Agoutis which are referred, in the 'Revised List of Vertebrates' (p. 76), to the Acouchy (Dasyprocta acouchy). The present animals from St. Lucia are evidently of the same species, as I find by comparing them with one of the St.-Vincent specimens, which has been preserved for examination. But they are certainly not referable to D. acouchy, to which I must have referred the first specimen, simply because Mr. Waterhouse says that that is the species found in the West-India Islands*. They belong, on the contrary, to the short and naked-tailed group of Dasyprocta allied to D. aguti, and seem most like D. punctata of Central Americaf, but are smaller in size and much darker in colour. The fur is generally black minutely grizzled with yellow ; but the crest at the back of the head and long hair on the hinder part of the back are of a nearly uniform black. The total length of the body in tbe specimen from St. Vincent is about 14 inches. Dr. Gray has described a Dasyprocta albida from St. Vincent, concerning which it is sufficient to refer to Mr. Waterhouse's observations ( M a m m . ii. p. 397). Even if this name could be shown to have * Nat. Hist. Mamm. ii. p. 392. t Gray, Ann. N. H. x. p. 264 (1862), et Zool. Sulphur, pi. 15. Mr. Water-house unites this to the Brazilian D. azarce; but I am not sure that this is correct. W e have hitherto referred the examples of this form received from Central America to D. cristata ; but this is certainly erroneous. P R O C ZOOL. Soc-1874, No. XLIII. 43 |
