184 THE ZOOLOOIGAL SOCIETY. 



miles, by waggon, and thence it was brought to this country 

 by rail and steamer. The chief Moremi gave Mr. Nicolls a 

 cow and two goats " for a milk supply for the little animal." 

 The story of the hunting expedition was told by Mr. Nicolls 

 in the Field (February 22, March 1, and March 8, 1890). 



White park cattle were shown for the first time this year. 

 Lord Ferrers presented a young bull from the Chartley herd, 

 and Mr. G. W. Duff Assheton-Smith sent a cow from Vaynol. 

 The nagor antelope and the waterbuck were also introduced : 

 for the former the Society was indebted to Dr. Percy Kendall 

 and for the latter to Mr. G. S. Mackenzie. A fossa, the rare 

 carnivore from Madagascar, forming a link between the cats 

 and the civets, was purchased — the first seen alive in England, 

 though examples had been exhibited on the Continent. 

 Nothing is known of its habits, except that it carries off kids 

 and goats, and fights with desperation when wounded. The 

 Chinese alligator was also exhibited for the first time, two 

 examples having been presented by Mr. D. C. Janson, of 

 Shanghai. Great interest attaches to these reptiles, as this is 

 the only instance of the occurrence of an alligator in the Old 

 World ; and there is reason to believe that from it was derived 

 the myth of the Chinese dragon.* 



A young beisa antelope was born in 1881 — probably the 

 first instance of this species breeding in captivity ; a nose- 

 horned viper produced forty-six young, and though few of 

 them long survived, the large number at a birth was set down 

 in the Report, as remarkable and worthy of record. In 1882 

 a gayal bull calf was born, the produce from a fine pair 

 received in the previous October from the Calcutta Gardens ; 

 no earher record of this species having bred in Europe is 

 known. Dr. Bauer sent home in 1883 three babirusas ($ $ $ ) ; 

 a young one was born shortly before the vessel reached 

 England, and came to the Gardens with the dam. This little 

 pig was of great interest, showing that, unlike the young of 

 other wild pigs, those of this species are unstriped.t A 

 young one was born in the Gardens in 1884. The pygmy 



* Swinhoe, in FrdceedinffSy 1870, p. 410; Leyland, in Magazine of Art, 1891, 

 pp. 369-372. 



f Froeeedings, 1883, pi. xlvii. 



