Mr. Gould on a new species of Musophaga. 381 



On a New Species of Musophaga. 

 By John Gould, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. 



Mr. Gould exhibited a drawing, made by Lieut. J. H. Stack, and 

 some feathers shed from the tail and wings of a species of Musophaga, 

 a specimen of which had been living for the last ten years at St. Helena, 

 in the possession of Lady Ross, the widow of the late Sir Patrick Ross, 

 Governor of that island. From an examination of the drawing and 

 feathers above mentioned, Mr. Gould was of opinion that the bird is 

 a larger and more beautifully coloured species than any of the Muso- 

 phagce with which we were previously acquainted. I^ady Ross in- 

 formed Mr. Gould that it is nearly as large as a common hen- 

 pheasant, and has a long, full, graduated blue tail, which is also the 

 colour of the neck, the whole of the body and the wings, except the 

 primaries, which are arterial blood-red, margined at the tips with a 

 purplish-brown colour, similar to that in Musophaga violacea ; the 

 bill and the large denuded orbits are yellow ; the irides brown ; and 

 the crown of the head surmounted with a high rounded crest of hair- 

 like blood-red feathers. It was brought from the western coast of 

 Africa, but the precise locality was unknown. ' ^ 



For this new species Mr. Gould proposed the name of Musophaga ' 

 RossicEi in honour of its amiable owner. A perfect skin of this bird 

 has since been sent to England, and a full description of it, accom- 

 panied by a figure, will be given in the Transactions of the Society. 



January 24. — Dr. Gray, Vice-President, in the Chair. '^ 



On the size of the red Corpuscles of the Blood of 



THE Great Anteater (Myrmecophaga jubata). 



By George Gulliver, F.R.S. 



These have the usual form, but differ in their comparatively large 

 size from those of most other Mammalia. Their average diameter 

 is g ^^gg th of an English inch, varying between the extremes of 

 3/g^ th and g^^gg th of an inch. 



AH observers had come to the conclusion that there is no con- 

 nection between the size of an animal and that of its blood-cor- 

 puscles, when I ascertained that in any truly natural family there 

 is really such connection, however it may be in animals of such dif- 

 ferent orders as those to which the mouse and horse belong. The 

 Great Anteater has larger blood-corpuscles than any yet examined 

 in the other and smaller Edentata, though they are remarkably large 

 in the Two-toed Sloth ; and the Capybara has the largest ever seen 

 among the Rodentia. Indeed, as this last order is characterized by 

 a comparatively large size of blood-corpuscle, it might be supposed 

 that in the great extinct species the corpuscles were larger than any 

 ever measured in the Mammalia ; and if any gigantic species allied 

 to the Anteater should be found, its red corpuscles may be expected 

 to be alike remarkable for comparative magnitude. 



In the present species they are about the same size as in the Ele- 

 phant, and are certainly, excepting those of this great pachyderma- 



