350 PROF. NEWTON ON THE DODO. [May 4, 
vain for the promised memoir. A few days ago M. Alphonse Milne- 
Edwards was so good as to send me tracings of the sketches, which 
he had obtained during a recent visit to Leyden; and I now have the 
pleasure of showing them to the Members of the Society present. 
“‘ The figures of the Dodo do not call for much remark ; but no 
one can look at them without perceiving that, rough as they are, 
they must have been drawn by no common hand and evidently from 
the life. The various attitudes in which the bird is represented cer- 
tainly assist us in forming a conception of what it must have been like. 
“The sketch of Aphanapteryx would seem to have been taken 
from a freshly-killed bird, as it might have lain on the ground before 
the limner. But this also, so far as I can judge, does not add to 
our knowledge of this remarkable form, which we have already so well 
depicted by Hoefnagel. 
““The remaining tracing is of more importance. I think Prof. 
Schlegel is clearly right in assigning it to Psittacus mauritianus, 
Owen *, which we only know from a few bones. The most extraordi- 
nary feature it presents is perhaps the frontal crest, of a shape quite 
unlike that found, so far as I am aware, in any other form of Parrot, 
rising as it does from the very base of the bill and terminating before 
it reaches the occiput, which appears to be flat and smooth. No 
sooner did I see this singular crest than it struck me that the figure 
of a bird given in one of the plates to Van Neck’s Voyage, which has 
always been a puzzle to everybody, must have been intended for this 
species. The plate was copied in fac-simile for Strickland’s work T; 
_ and the description of this particular figure (5) is given by him thus :— 
<<¢ 5 est un oiseau de nous nommé Corbeau Indien, ayant la gran- 
deur plus d’une fois que les Parroquets, de double et triple couleur.’ 
“He, it is true, says of it ‘A species of Buceros’ (p. 10, note); but 
no species of that genus, or any thing like it, has been seen from 
Mauritius, and I cannot help thinking that the figure must refer to 
P. mauritianus. If the sketch I now exhibit can be trusted as to 
the shortness of the bird’s wings, it is very suggestive. 
‘Professors Owen (loc. cit.) and A. Milne-Edwards (Ann. Se. 
Nat. ser. 5, vi. pp. 91-111) have pointed out several osteological 
characters which distinguish this Parrot ; and the latter has shown 
that it cannot be referred to any of the established genera or sub- 
genera of Psittaci. I would therefore propose the name of Lorxo- 
psitracus for the group of which it is the type—the only known 
external character that we can as yet depend upon being that afforded 
by the singular frontal crest. 
“In conclusion, I have to add that Strickland states (p. 13) that in 
the published accounts of Harmanszoon’s voyage no mention of Do- 
dos occurs. It is, however, evident that there was some one of his 
company well employed in taking notes ; and it is only to be hoped 
that Prof. Schlegel will not much longer delay to print them.” 
The following papers were read :— 
* This, 1866, p. 168. + ‘The Dodo and its Kindred,’ pl. ii. 
