1873.] MR. SCLATER ON ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 473 



specimen before the Meeting he owed to the kindness of Dr. Peters : 

 it came, with others now in the Museum at Berlin, from the ponds 

 of Count Frankenberg in Silesia. 



These naked Carp are looked upon by German fishermen as hy- 

 brids of the Carp and Tench, hence the popular name of Schleih- 

 karpfen in some districts. 



Several living Spiegelkarp had been sent home from Berlin this 

 year by Lord Odo Russell, and were now thriving in a pond at 

 Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire. 



Dr. E. Hamilton, referring to the question of the great fecundity 

 of Hydropotes inermis, read the following extract from a letter re- 

 ceived from Shanghai, and dated April 3, 1873, upon this subject : — 

 " I have been unable yet to procure a live Deer {Hydropotes), but 

 have put beyond doubt that they have a great number of young at 

 a birth. A female was shot near Taitsan, at the end of February ; 

 and on cutting her open seven young ones were found. They were 

 placed in spirits ; and I have carefully examined them. So far ad- 

 vanced are they that you can plainly distinguish their feet and eyes." 



Mr. H. E. Dresser, F.Z.S., exhibited and made remarks on some 

 rare birds from the Ural, amongst which were the Smew (Mergus 

 albellus) in down, nestlings of the Rustic Bunting {Emberiza rustica), 

 and several specimens of the bird described by Lilljeborg as Salicaria 

 magnirostris, which last he believed to be identical with Acroce- 

 phalus dumetorum, Blyth, from India, as seemed to result from 

 the comparison of Indian examples. 



Mr. Sclater gave an account of the Gardens of some of the 

 Zoological Societies on the continent, which he had visited during 

 the past fortnight, and spoke of the principal novelties he had seen 

 in them. 



At Antwerp the series of Antelopes was, as usual, very fine, and 

 embraced examples of the West- African form of the Blau-bok (Hip- 

 potragus leucophcevs), and pairs of the Bubaline Antelope (Alcela- 

 phus bubalis) and Sing-sing (Cervicapra sing-siny). Amongst the 

 Phasianidse were a pair of Aryus giganteus, the female of which had 

 deposited her first egg on the day of Mr. Sclater's visit (May 8th). 

 The female Giraffe (Camelopardalis giraffa) obtained from this 

 Society in 1866 had born two young ones, a female born June 10th, 

 1871, and another female born March 15, 1872. Both these and 

 the parents were in excellent health and condition. 



In the Rotterdam Gardens the most remarkable animal observed 

 was a fine specimen of Cryptoprocta ferox, obtained from Hr. Van 

 Dam, and probably the only specimen of this rare Madagascarian 

 animal ever brought alive to Europe. Although in general external 

 appearance more like a Viverra of some sort, it certainly exhibited 

 cat-like actions, and was especially remarkable for its long rounded 

 tail. A second rarity was a specimen of the Papuan Cassowary lately 

 referred to and figured in the Society's * Proceedings' (1872, p. 1 47, 



