Royal Institution. CI 



side with the fawn-coloiir. The sides of the head and undcr-phimaj^e 

 are uniform, except on the sides of the •breast and across the neck, 

 where there are s)nall Uack triangular s])ots in the centre of some 

 of the feathers. Tlie under wing-coverts are pure pale buff; the 

 middle of the belly and crissuni lighter and nearly whitish. 



4. Otocouys peregrina. 



Otocoris chrysolaiwos, Bp. Att. Sc. It. 1845, p. 405 (nee Wap^l.). 

 O. siii)ra yrisescenti-hrunnea, rvfo tincta ; pennis niyrovariegatis: 

 fronte, facie (jidaque Jlavis, Ion's et regione auriculari et vitta 

 transversa I'erticis cvm plofja magna superpectorali nigris : ab- 

 domine crissoque et tecAricihvs alarum inferiorihus uliis,pectore 

 et laterihus rvfescenti-griseo mixtis : alts nigricantihus ; pri- 

 mariis alhido, seciindariis rtifescenti-grisro, tectricibus mujori- 

 bus riifo limhatis ; tectricibus sumviis inire mfo-brunneis,ptvne 

 castaueis : caudanigricante ; rectrice una vtrinqiie extima late, 

 secunda auteni versus apicem solum et angustiiis albo limbata ; 

 duabus mediis rufescenii-griseo utrinque late marginutis : tec- 

 tricibus caudce svperioribus bast I'ujis : rostro nigro, mandibula 

 inferior e basi alba : pedibus intense brunneis. 

 Long, tota 5"5, ala; 3*8, caudee 2-4. 



I have had an example of this bird in my possession several years, 

 but have always considered it the same as Waglcr's O. chrgsolcema, 

 with whicli it has been identified by Prince Charles Bonaparte. 

 Having however lately obtained specimens of the Mexican species, I 

 find the Bogota bird presents such differences as to render its specific 

 isolation necessary. It is rather smaller than the former, the tai i s 

 shorter, the bill longer and more curved, and the back has more 

 black upon it. But the chief peculiarity to be remarked in my 

 specimen (which is not quite adult) is the pure red-brown colour of 

 the upper wing-coverts, which in the Mexican bird are lighter, paler, 

 and more jnnky. There are many examples of this species in the 

 Paris Museum, in the collection recently transmitted from Bogota by 

 M. Lewy, the French consul there. I have no doubt fully mature 

 individuals will exhibit still further differences. 



KOYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



May 2, 1856.— The Duke of Northumberland, K.G., F.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. 



" On the Ruminant Quadrupeds and the Aboriginal Cattle of 

 Britain." By Prof. Owen, F.K.S. 



The speaker introduced the subject of the Ruminant order of 

 quadrupeds, and the source of our domesticated species, by some 

 general remarks upon the classification of the class Mammalia, and 

 on the characters of the great natural group defined by Ray and 

 Linnaeus as the XJvgulata, or hoofed mammalia. 



These are divisible into two natural and parallel orders, having 

 respectively the Anoplotherium and Palceotherium as their types ; 

 which genera, as far as geological researches have yet extended, 

 were the first, or amongst the earliest, representatives of the Ungu- 

 lata on this planet. 



