366 Zoological Society. 



In the Press. 



Prodromus Founts Zeylanicee, being Contributions to the Zoology of 

 Ceylon. By Ed. Fred. Kelaart, M.D., F.L.S., Staff-Surgeon, | 

 &c. \ 



We have much pleasure in drawing attention to this work : the 

 fauna of Ceylon has always been classed among the richest in the 

 world, but till within the last few years very little of it was known to 

 the systematic naturalist. Dr. Kelaart's work will contain a. familiar 

 and a technical description of all the known Ceylon quadrupeds and 

 other animals of the class Mammalia (upwards of eighty in number) . 

 The work will also contain a systematically arranged catalogue (with 

 English names) of more than 200 Ceylon birds, and a descriptive 

 account of all the known Chelonian, Saurian, and Batrachian reptiles ; 

 to which will be added an Appendix replete with information on other 

 branches of the zoology of the island. On the whole, this work (Pro- 

 dromus Faunce Zeylanicee) will contain the fullest and most recent 

 information on the extensive and beautiful fauna of Ceylon. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Jan. 14, 1851. — Prof. Owen, F.R.S., Vice President, in the Chair. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On a new and most remarkable form tn Ornithology. 

 By John Gould, F.R.S. etc. 



I have the pleasure of introducing to the notice of the Society on 

 the present occasion the most extraordinary bird I have seen for many 

 years, and which forms part of a collection made on the banks of the 

 upper part of the White Nile, by Mansfield Parkyns, Esq., of Not- 

 tingham. For this bird I propose the generic name of Bal^ni- 

 CEPS, with the following characters : — 



Bill enormously robust, equal in breadth and depth ; sides of the 

 upper mandible much swollen ; culmen slightly elevated, depressed 

 in the middle of its length, and terminating at the point in a very 

 powerful hook ; tomise sharp, turning inwards and very convex ; 

 lower mandible very powerful, with a sharp concave cutting edge and 

 a truncated tip ; nostrils scarcely perceptible, and placed in a narrow 

 slit at the base of the bill, close to the culmen ; orbits denuded ; 

 head very large ; occiput slightly crested ; wings very powerful, the 

 third, fourth and fifth feathers the longest; tail of moderate length 

 and square in form ; plumage soft and yielding ; skin of the throat 

 loose, and capable of dilatation into an extensive pouch ; tibiae and 

 tarsi lengthened, the latter a fourth shorter than the former ; the 

 lower third of the tibiae denuded ; toes four in number, all extremely 

 long, and without the slightest vestige of interdigital membrane ; 

 hind-toe on the same plane as the anterior ones and directed inwards ; 

 tibiae and tarsi reticulated, the reticulations becoming much smaller 



