71 



position of origin, and not repetitions of the two pincers of the claw, as 

 was commonly believed. — Mr. S dater made some remarks on the breed- 

 ing of the Ground-Pigeons [Geophapes] in the Society's Gardens, and show- 

 ed that the young of these Pigeons , when first hatched , were not mate- 

 rially different in point of development from those of the typical Pigeons, 

 and that there was consequently no ground for separating the Geophapes 

 from the order Columbae on this account , as it had been recently proposed 

 to do. — A letter was read from Professor R. Ramsay Wright, enclosing 

 some photographs of the heaps of skulls of the American Bison which are 

 collected on the plains of the Saskatchewan, and piled up at the sidings on 

 the Canadian Pacific Railway , awaiting transport , and which testify to the 

 enormous number of these animals recently exterminated. — Mr. W. Ba- 

 te s on gave a summary of his recent observations on numerical Variation in 

 Teeth. The facts given related chiefly to specimens of Quadrumana, Carni- 

 vora, Marsupials, and other Orders of Mammals in the British and other 

 Museums. The author pointed out that the ordinarily received view of ho- 

 mologies between Teeth is based on the hypothesis that the series is compo- 

 sed of members each of which is either present or absent. In the light of 

 the facts of Variation , this hypothesis was shown to be untenable , and an 

 attempt was made to arrive at a more just conception of the nature of the 

 Homology of Multiple Parts. — Mr. R. Lydekker, F.Z.S., described part 

 of an upper jaw of a Sirenian Mammal from the Tertiaries of Northern Italy, 

 containing milk-teeth. As these teeth showed a masked Selenodont struc- 

 ture, it was urged that the specimen indicated the descent of the Sirenia 

 from Selenodont Artiodactyle Ungulates. It was incidentally shown that 

 Halitheriwm veronense , Zigno , from the same deposits, belongs to Prorasto- 

 mus, Owen. — A communication was read from the Rev. H. S. Gorham, 

 F.Z.S., containing descriptions of and notes on the Coleoptera collected by 

 Mr. John Whitehead on Kina Balu , Borneo. The present communication 

 related to the families Hispidae, Erotylidae, Endomychidae, Lycidae , Lam- 

 pyridae, and others. — Another communication from the Rev. H. S. Gor- 

 ham and Mr. C. J. Gahan gave an account of some of the Coleoptera 

 collected by Mr. W. Bonny in the Aruwimi Valley, Central- Africa. — Mr. 

 P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., read some notes on a small collection of Mammals 

 brought by Mr. Alfred Sharpe from Nyassaland, amongst which was a flat 

 skin of Angas's Bush-bok [Tragelaphus ungasi) , a species of Antelope not 

 hitherto recorded to occur in this district. — Mr. S dater also gave the 

 description of a new Antelope from Somali-land , proposed to be called Bu- 

 balis Sivaynii, after Capt. H. G. C. Swayne R.E. , who had furnished him 

 with the specimens on which it was based. He likewise exhibited and remar- 

 ked on some other examples of Antelopes from the same country contained 

 in Capt. Swayne's collection. — P. L. Sclater, Secretary. 



2. Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft. 



Die nächste Versammlung findet 



am 8. bis 10. Juni 



im Zoologischen Institut zu Berlin 

 statt. 



