224 Zoological Society. 



A specimen was exhibited of a small species of Deer from Chili, 

 which had lived in the Society's Menagerie for upwards of twelve 

 months, and which Mr. Bennett stated that he believed to be new. 

 It is a female, and consequently does not offer the accessory cha- 

 racters which zoologists have been in the habit of deriving from 

 the horns. The other distinctive marks are as follows : 



CERVUS HUMILIS. Cerv.parvus, obesus, brevipes jfacielatd, brevi, 

 obtusa ; Jissurd infra-orbitali mediocri ; cauda subnulla : cor- 

 pore totonifo, antice nigrescenti, postice fronte pedibusque infe- 

 rioribus saturatioribus, infrh dilution. 



Alt. ad humeros vix 1 ped. : long, cauda? vix unciam superans. 



Mr. Bennett added that he was informed by Captain P. P. King, 

 R.N., that a second skin of the same species had been brought to 

 England by him ; that the young was spotted with yellow, and had 

 a yellow stripe on each side of the back ; and that the animal was 

 plentiful at Conception, and found even as far south as the Archi- 

 pelago of Chiloe, living, he believed, in small herds. 



A hybrid Pheasant belonging to the Society having lately died 

 at the Garden, Mr. Yarrell observed that he had examined its body, 

 a preparation of a part of which, together with the preserved skin, 

 was then on the table. He remarked that in mules produced be- 

 tween animals placed at different degrees of distance from each 

 other in the scale of Nature, it was a point of some interest to as- 

 certain the relative state of the sexual organs, which it might be 

 expected would be found more or less perfect, depending on the 

 extent of the distance interposed between the parent animals. The 

 bird in question was a male, bred between the pheasant and the 

 common Jowl) but most allied in appearance to the former. The 

 sexual organs appeared to be perfect and of large size for the pe- 

 riod of the year. 



Three examples of the Ardea Nycticorax, Linn., were placed on 

 the table. On these Mr. Yarrell observed that the Menagerie of the 

 Society had furnished an interesting link in this species, in a young 

 bird which united in its plumage the brown spotted wing of the 

 Gardenian Heron with the black head and ash-coloured back of 

 the Night Heron : thus exhibiting the change from the young to 

 the adult bird, and proving that the two supposed species are really 

 but one. 



Two living specimens were exhibited of the Suricate, Ryzccna 

 tetradactyla, lllig., which had recently been added to the Society's 

 Collection. Both individuals were extremely gentle, and suffered 

 themselves to be handled and played with, without evincing any 

 uneasiness. 



At the request of the Chairman, Mr. Martin reported the morbid 

 appearances observed in the Lion which recently died at the So- 

 ciety's Gardens. Before removing the skin, the whole of the body 

 presented a remarkably bloated appearance, which was found on exa- 

 mination to be owing to general emphysema. This was suspected by 

 Mr.Martin to be the result of morbid arterial secretion ; it could not 

 have been caused by putrefaction, the animal having been dead but 



a few 



