13 



is to be recorded among the living Mammalia, is, without 

 doubt, the Tree-Kangaroo (2)ewc?ro/a^w5iwzw^M5,Miiller), pre- 

 sented by the Governor of Singapore ; for the safe transport 

 of which the Society is indebted to Capt. M'Quhae, R.N. 



In the class of Birds, the Society have exhibited three 

 of tlie most curious forms yet known to exist, in studying 

 whose habits the naturalist cannot fail to take the most 

 livelj'^ interest. They are, the Maleo {Megacephalon Maleo), 

 from New Guinea ; the Australian Brush Turkey {Ta- 

 legalla Lathami), and one of the species of Bower Birds 

 {Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus). Scarcely inferior to these 

 is the magnificent Monal (Lophophorus impeyanus), for 

 which the Society is indebted to Lord Hardinge. 



Among the Reptilian Forms may be specially mentioned 

 a group of Puff Adders {Vipera arietans), and two splen- 

 did specimens of Python Dussumieri, the great Serpent of 

 Ceylon. The increased means for the conservation of 

 Reptiles, which are now in preparation, will enable the 

 Council to make a great advance in this part of the Col- 

 lection, which has hitherto been kept in abeyance from the 

 want of proper accommodation rather than from the diffi- 

 culty of procuring examples. 



The most serious casualties which have occurred are the 

 loss of the old Male Giraffe, a Lion, who died on May 1 7, 

 and the Male Aurochs, who died on Sept. 26, 1848. Of 

 the first of these animals it is sufficient to remark that he 

 had been upwards of thirteen years in captivity, and that 

 his health had been precarious for the last two years. He 

 has fortunately been survived by the female and the fine 

 stock of which he was the sire. The death of the Lion 

 and the Aurochs resulted from the same cause, inflam- 

 mation of the lungs, which has ever proved so fatal an 

 enemy to the exotic animals which have been exposed to 

 the cold fogs incident to the undrained soil by which they 

 ai-e surrounded in the Regent's Park. The long series of 

 instances in which the deaths at the Gardens are clearly 

 referable to this source of disease are confirmed by "the 

 recoi'ds of medicine, which," to use the words of a most 

 distinguished physiologist, " bear testimony to similar ill 

 effects upon the mucous tract of the respiratory organs of 



