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LETTER FROM SIR V. BROOKE. Jan. 5, 
The Secretary read the following extract from a letter addressed to 
him by Dr. George Bennett, F.Z.S., of Sydney. 
“ Sydney, October 22nd, 1874. 
«“T have sent you a Beetle (Chrysochroa ocellata), enclosed in a 
small box, by this mail. This insect was presented to me by Capt. 
Payne, of the barque ‘ William Manson,’ by whom it had been cap- 
tured at sea at a great distance from land. His account of the 
capture is as follows :— 
««The Beetle was caught by me in the Bay of Bengal in lat. 17° 
N., and long. 90° E., being at that time the distance of 273 miles 
from the nearest land, namely the west coast of Pegu. The insect 
lived for ten days after being enclosed in a small box after its 
capture.’ ” 
The Secretary exhibited for Mr. Andrew Anderson, F.Z.S., of 
Futteyghur, an egg and young of the Gavial (Gavialis gangeticus), 
and read the following remarks on them by Mr. Anderson :— 
*‘T send for exhibition by the Secretary an egg of Crocodilus gan- 
geticus (Gavialis gangeticus). I take this opportunity of pointing 
out that the word ‘ Gavialis’ should properly be spelt with an r, 
and not with a v, the vernacular for the Long-nosed Crocodile being 
‘ Gharial.’ 
“This egg is one of forty which I dug out of the sand; they were 
laid in two tiers, twenty below, and twenty above, with a stratum of 
sand about 1 foot deep between the two layers. Apparently the 
first batch had been laid and covered over with sand a day or two 
before the second instalment. 
«Also a young Gharial about two months old, to which I acted as 
accoucheur. ‘This is ove of several which were kept alive in a tub ; 
they ran with amazing rapidity the moment they were hatched. 
Some of them actually bit my fingers before I had time to remove the 
shell from their bodies. 
‘Length (on exclusion from shell) 15-8 inches; snout, from eye, 
1:6; between fore and hind leg 2°8 ; from hind leg to end of tail 9 ; 
girth 4. Colour greyish brown, with five irregular transverse bands 
between fore and hind legs; nine more similar marks across the 
tail.” 
A letter was read from the Marquess of Normanby, F.Z.S., dated 
Government House, Brisbane, Queensland, Oct. 10th, 1874, stating 
that he had forwarded to the Society in the ship ‘ Ramsay,’ under 
the care of Capt. Cater, a fine living specimen of the Australian 
Cassowary (Casuarius australis) *. 
A letter was read from Sir Victor Brooke, Bart., F.Z.S., pointing 
out that in his paper on Cervulus (P. Z.S. 1874), at page 41, the 
ninth line from the bottom, the paragraph “ Females hornless ” down 
* See below, p. 82. 
