24 



whereas if the inferior portion had represented a perfect mandible 

 and the superior projecting process a horny excrescence, we ought 

 to have had the nostrils situated about 2 lines lower than they actually 

 are in the malformed specimen. 



" The detached process extends nearly to the extremity of the 

 upper mandible, but is turned a little to the right side. It appears 

 neither to be hurtful nor inconvenient to the bird, which uses its 

 beak in the ordinary way. 



" As this process is not liable to have its growth checked by at- 

 trition, I inquired if it ever attained inordinate growth, so as to 

 require cutting, but was told that it had never grown beyond its 

 present size. 



" The bird which exhibits this singular lusus naturae is in the pos- 

 session of Captain Owen, who brought it from Africa. Mrs. Owen, 

 to whose politeness Mr. Vigors and myself are indebted for an ex- 

 amination of the bird, informed us that the original vendor, a negro, 

 on being questioned, denied that any artificial means had been em- 

 ployed to produce the appearance. It was at that time a young 

 bird, and is now six years old. It possesses the usual good temper 

 and tractability of its species, which renders it such a general fa- 

 vourite among the negroes and so much in request in Europe. 



" Although this malformation is of a simple kind, being rather 

 per situm mutatum, than per excessum, yet there are not wanting in- 

 stances of a complete and well-formed upper mandible being super- 

 added and situated above the ordinary one, of which there is an 

 example in the head of a Vulture preserved in the Museum of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons." 



At the request of the Chairman, Mr. William Daniell, R.A., ex- 

 hibited numerous drawings of Antelopes made by his brother from 

 living animals in his different journeys in Africa. He added, that he 

 was induced to bring them before the Committee by his desire to 

 publish engravings of twenty of the species under the patronage of 

 the Society $ and briefly explained the terms on which he proposed 

 to submit them to the public, commencing the work as soon as two 

 hundred copies shall have been subscribed for. Mr. Daniell also 

 exhibited drawings of the male and female fire-bached Pheasant, 

 (Phasianus Ignitus, Lath.), which had been made by his brother 

 in the native place of these birds. The male was observed to possess 

 two elongated middle tail feathers, of a white colour with a black tip, 

 which had never been observed in the specimens received in this 

 country, nor noticed in the descriptions of the species, except by 

 Dr. Latham, who referred to these drawings of Mr. Daniell. The 

 Committee considered this fact worthy of being recorded, in order 

 to draw the. attention of the naturalists of India to the circum- 

 stance. 



