373 
November 13th, 1860. 
Dr. J. E. Gray, V.P., in the Chair. 
Dr. Hamilton exhibited some hen Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) 
which had partially adopted the male plumage, and pointed out that 
they were all affected with disease in the ovarium, and that those in 
which the disease had made greatest progress had advanced farthest 
towards the male in external appearance. 
Mr. Gould called the attention of the meeting to a Kangaroo 
living in the Society’s Gardens, generally believed to be Macropus 
rufus, but which he was inclined to consider distinct, and for which 
he proposed the temporary appellation of Macropus (Osphranter) 
pictus. 
The Secretary read the following extracts from a letter addressed 
to him by the Rev. G. Beardsworth, of Selling, Kent, giving an 
account of two Cetaceans, mother and young (probably Hyperoodon 
rostratus), killed on the North Kentish coast, near Whitstable, 
October 29, 1860 :-— 
“Dam: extreme length 26 feet; greatest girth nearly 20 feet ; 
snout or beak 17 inches long by 7 wide; pectoral fins 29 inches 
long, dorsal one rather shorter. Tail set transversely, and very 
slightly bifurcated, in fact very nearly straight, 7 feet across. The 
blow-hole set transversely on the crown of the head, a single 
straight line, about 6 inches long, and slightly behind the eyes. 
Eyes of human shape, about twice the size, and furnished with 
eyelids. The pectoral fins set very low, so much so that a straight 
stick would touch the roots of both without bending. Not the 
slightest traces of baleen or of teeth. Tongue entirely detached be- 
neath, and fringed with a kind of papille in a double row, about 
3 of an inch deep. Forehead rising abruptly to the height of 
13 inches from the snout, and very slight traces of any ridge between 
them. ‘Two diverging grooves beneath the throat, about 18 inches 
long. The dorsal and pectoral fins divide the whole length into three 
portions, of which the two end ones are about equal, the middle one 
rather longer. Colour, a brownish-black ; quite black on the back 
and tail, shading to a dirty white below and on the cheeks.” 
‘Young one about 14 feet long, differing only from the old one in 
being slighter and of a lighter colour.” 
‘One circumstance I think deserves recording. One of the coast- 
guardmen who killed these animals told me that the animal ‘sobbed’ 
very much, but that its only efforts were to smother itself by push- 
ing its snout into the sand. May not this give some clue to the use 
of the beak? May it not be to procure food by suction from the 
sand? This might show some reason for the papillz-like fringe to 
the tongue, which was alike in both specimens.” 
