126 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891. 



MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS FROM 



Mr. G. De Saone, Mr. H. E. Cooke, C.S., and Mr. H. S. Davies. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY. 



The Indian Forester, Nos. 10-12, in exchange. 



The Flora of British India (Sir J. D. Hooker), from Government. 



The North American Fauna, Nos. 3 and 4, in exchange. 



On Megascolex cceruleus, with a theory of the course of the blood in Earth- 

 Worms, by Prof. G. A. Bourne, presented by the author. 



Bulletiu de la Societe Zoologique de France, January, 1891, in exchange. 



The Locust of North-West India (Acridium peregricum), by E. C. Cotes, presented 

 by the anthor. 



The Canadian Entomologist, Vol. XXIII., No. 2, in exchange. 



The Victorian Naturalist, Vol. VII., No. 10, in exchange. 



A Catalogue of the Mantodea, by J. Wood Mason, presented by the author. 



THE WHITE-FACED STIFF-TAILED DUCK.. 



The Honorary Secretary stated that he had received a letter from Lieutenant C. 

 Kendall Bushe, stating that he had killed a White-faced Stiff-tailed Duck (Erismatura 

 leucocephala) in the neighbourhood of Sialkot, which, according to Hume and Mar- 

 shall, has not been recorded in India before. 



A MAN-EATING PANTHER. 



The Honorary Secretary read a letter received from Mr. C A. W. Davies, of 

 Basim, Berar, containing a graphic account of a man-eating panther, shot by him on 

 the 13th Peoruary last. The panther appears to have attacked an encampment of 

 Banjaris, and carried off a boy who was sleeping close to the rest of the party. The 

 skull, stripped of its flesh and hair, was found the next morning in a nullah close by, 

 and the trunk of the boy's body was eventually discovered lying across the branches 

 of a large moha tree where it had been skilfully hidden, a considerable distance 

 above the ground, by the cunuing creature. Mr. C. A. W. Davies eventually 

 succeeded in shooting the panther, and removed from the stomach several fingers of 

 the boy, two of which had been forwarded to the Society in spirits. 



Mr. J. D. Inverarity stated that it was by no means an uncommon occurrence for 

 panthers to hide their food in trees, and he had himself met with a case id which the 

 body of a spotted deer had been dragged up a tree, a considerable distance from the 

 ground, by a panther. 



It was resolved that Mr. Davies' letter should be published in the Society's Journal. 



HARPOONING CROCODILES. 



The next paper laid before the Meeting was from Captain Sutton Jones, of Deoli, Raj- 

 pootana, containing an account of how he had, with the assistance of Captain Penrose, 

 suceeeded in destroying 18 crocodiles (C. palustris) in the village tanks, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Deoli, by spearing them under water, and dragging them to the shore by 

 means of a rope attached to the spear-head. 



BOMBAY FERNERIES. 



Mr. G. Carstensen, the Superintendent of the Municipal Gardens of Bombay, 

 then read a very valuable and interesting paper on Ferneries, illustrating his remarks 

 with numerous specimens of ferns, palms, foliage plants, and orchids. Mr! 

 Carstensen divided his paper into three parts, dealing with the construction 



