184 
March 13th, 1860. 
Dr. Gray, V.P., in the Chair. 
Mr. F. Buckland exhibited an embalmed Egyptian Id7s, and made 
some remarks upon the state of preservation of the animal as ascer- 
tained by dissection, and on the causes of the veneration of this 
species of bird by the ancient Egyptians. 
Mr. Sclater exhibited specimens of Oreophasis derbianus, ob- 
tained by Mr. Osbert Salvin, Corresponding Member, on the Volcan 
de Fuego, Guatemala. Of the three examples, two were males and 
one a female. The female, which was previously unknown, differed 
from the male only in its slightly smaller size and the smaller develop- 
ment of the vertical protuberance. 
Mr. Sclater also announced the arrival of two important acquisitions 
for the Society’s Menagerie. A fine specimen of the Gigantic Sala- 
mander of Japan (Sieboldia maxima) had just been obtained from 
Capt. Charles Taylor of the ship ‘Tung Yu,’ by whom it had been 
brought to England from Japan. Capt. Taylor stated that he had 
purchased the animal in the market at Nagasaki on the 10th April, 
1859, and had since kept it on board his vessel in a wooden tub. 
The second novelty was of a different class of Vertebrates. Mr. J. 
Petherick, H.M. Vice-Consul at Chartoum, had deposited in the 
Society’s Gardens that day two living examples of the singular bird 
described by Mr. Gould before the Society in 1851* under the name 
of Baleniceps rex. These two birds,with a young male Hippopotamus, 
also at present placed under the care of the Society, were the sole 
survivors out of a noble collection of three African Elephants, two 
Rhinoceroses, four Hippopotami, a Monkey (Colobus guereza), and 
eleven birds, which had been prepared by Mr. Petherick for trans- 
mission to England. 
Mr. P. L. Simmonds stated that he had received that day by the 
West African Mail a letter from his brother-in-law at Gaboon, dated 
January 14th last, and begged leave to communicate to the Members 
some information extracted from it, relating to the habits and temper 
of the Gorilla in a state of confinement. A fine specimen, which his 
brother-in-law had obtained, had died, and the skeleton, with that of 
a large adult female Chimpanzee, had been shipped for England. His 
brother-in-law was now again in possession of a very healthy young 
female Gorilla (the second, he believed, that had ever been captured 
alive). It was tame, lively, sensible, and not near so noisy or dirty 
as a Chimpanzee. It had grown an inch or two since he had pur- 
chased it, and seemed to be thriving well. Many people came to 
* See P. Z. §. 1851, p. 1. pl. xxxv. 
