THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 135 



of the Otago Acclimatisation Society, Dr. Woodward said that 

 " quite a number of the heads obtained in the previous season 

 had antlers from forty to forty-six inches long from tip to base, 

 with a width of span up to forty-one inches ; and several of the 

 carcases weighed from five to six hundred pounds." 



In the reptile room a West African python laid about a 

 hundred eggs, which she incubated, from January 13 till April 4, 

 without bringing off a brood. After she had been sitting about 

 a fortnight Bartlett opened an egg, and found a living embryo 

 inside. "There is no doubt," said a writer in the Times of 

 April 5, "that the frequent removals of the blanket in un- 

 covering the eggs, and the occasional partial uncoilings of the 

 snake, caused too numerous sudden changes of temperature for 

 the proper development of the young." Mr. Punch, on April 19, 

 thus addressed the Fellows who had taken the temperature 

 periodically, and made other investigations: 



Like boys, who when they've sowed a seed, still of its progress doubting, 



Will pull it up from time to time to see if it is sprouting, 



So you in your anxiety to see my Pythons small, 



Have poked and pulled and fingered me till you've got none at all. 



The Indian collection made for the Society by its Correspond- 

 ing Members, the Rajah Rajendra Mullick, Mr. A. Grote, Dr. 

 John Squire, and Mr. William Dunn, was brought home in July, 

 1864, by Mr. J. Thomson, the head-keeper, who had been sent 

 out to Calcutta for that purpose. He was very successful, and 

 there were but few deaths on the passage. A gratuity of £50 

 and the thanks of the Council were voted to him for his services. 

 The most important animals received were : 



2 Indian Rhinoceroses ( c^ , ? )"* 



2 Black Cuckoos 



2 Rose-coloured Pastors 



1 Rhinoceros Hornbill 



2 Concave Hornbills 



3 Javan Peafowl 



2 Rufous tailed Pheasants 



1 Peacock Pheasant 



2 Indian Tantaluses 

 2 Indian Jabirus 



2 Sarus Cranes, and 

 2 Land Tortoises 



3 Lineated Pheasants 



In this year the tooth-billed pigeon of Samoa, which had 

 been reckoned as extinct, was received from Dr. George Bennett 



* The male was Jim, which lived in the Menagerie till December, 1904; the 

 female was sent to the Jardin des Plantes in 1865 in exchange for Jumbo. 



