80 



SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTION. 



6//t Nov. The Secretary reported that the Rev. Dr. Philip 

 had jtrcscnted two interesting Zoological Specimens for the 

 Society's 3ruseiini, — the one Manis Temminckii, the other 

 Python Nataleiisis ; and that hoth of them had been brought 

 from the interior, eastward of Latakoo. The latter, Dr. Smith 

 stated, was also found in the country about Port Natal ; and 

 that he had in his possession a specimen which was killed by 

 his party whilst he was there. 



At the request of Mr. '^'^erreaux, the attention of the meeting 

 jL ^^'^^ called to three birds which he had lately received from 

 *^ JMadagascar, and which, from considering them new to science, 

 he had named and characterised as follows : — 



Accipiter ^1 adagascnriensis. Above dull brown with an ir- 

 regular white spot on the nape ; beneath white freely crossed 

 with fine brown bars : vent and under tail coverts, pure white ; 

 tail brown above, ashy white beneath, and both surfaces 

 crossed by eight narrow brown-black bands. Length tliir- 

 teen inches and a half.* 



Glareola ocularis. Head and shoulders green-black ; under 

 each eye a fine transverse white stripe ; upper parts of neck and 

 back green-grey ; chin white ; under parts of neck and the 

 breast brownish grey ; anterior part of belly pale chesnut ; 

 hinder parts, and under and upper tail coverts white ; base of 

 tail partly black and partly white, the tips of a few of the 

 feathers white, the other parts pure black ; bill black with the 

 edges of the mandibles towards the angles of the mouth, red. 

 Length about ei^ht inches and a half. 



Rnllus Madagascariensis. Head and chin gfrey ; neck, breast 

 and belly rusty grey-brown ; back rusty olive blotched with 

 black ; vent barred transversly with reddish white; under tail 

 coverts white ; point of bill and upper surface of upper mandi- 

 ble blackish brown, the other parts of the bill yellowish. 

 Length eight inches and a half. 



Dr. Smith stated, that the Rev. Mr. Wright, of the London 

 Missionary Society, had found, by means of a Trochiometer 

 connected with one of the wheels of his wagon, that the distance 

 between Griqua Town aud Cape Town, via Beaufort, was 622 

 English miles. 



The reading of Mr. Chase's paper, entitled " An Account of 

 the Progress of Geographical Discovery in the African Con- 

 tinent made from the Cape of Good Hope,'' was resumed and 

 concluded. The author in this part of his paper gave a brief 

 detail of the various attempts which had been made to explore 

 the country along the South-east Coast, and concluded by a 

 summary of the information which had resulted from those ex- 

 peditions. 



• Can titis be the Astur fasciiitiis of Vigors ami Horstield .' /■-V. 



