2 PROF. NEWTON ON ALKCTOROiNAS NITIDISSIM A. [Jail. 14, 



nothiuf. I hope they may be July recounted by some one far more 

 fitted than myself to do them justice ; but for my own part I wish 

 to express an opinion, in which all present I think will join, that the 

 active sympathy which our late President invariably exhibited, not 

 only for those who busied themselves in that branch of study espe- 

 cially affected by himself, but for all working zoologists, requires 

 acknowledgment on the present occasion ; and in these imperfect 

 sentences I have endeavoured to give it utterance." 



The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the 

 Society's Menagerie during the month of December 1878. 



The' total number of registered additions to the Society's Mena- 

 gerie during the month of December was 80, of which 42 were by 

 presentation, 33 by purchase, and 5 were received on deposit. The 

 total number of departures during the same period, by death and 

 removals, was 111. 



The most noticeable additions during the month of December 

 were as follows : — 



1. A dark-coloured Lemur new to the Society's collection, which 

 appears to be the Mayotte Lemur {Lemur mayotteiisis, Schl.). 



2. A collection of Lemurs brought to England by Mr. George 

 A. Shaw, who has been resident some years at Fiauarantsoa, in the 

 province of Betsileo, in Central Madagascar, and acquired by the 

 Society partly by purchase and partly by presentation. Amongst 

 these "are representatives of two species new to the Society's col- 

 lection- — one being a Chirogaleus, and the other Microcebus smithi — 

 besides an example of the little-known Hapalemur simus. Mr. 

 Sliaw has favoured me with some interesting notes upon these 

 little-known animals, which will be read at a future meeting, when I 

 hope to be able to give the exact name of the Chirogaleus, if deter- 

 minable with our existing knowledge. 



3. A female Punjaub Wild Sheep {Ovis cycloceros), presented by 

 Col. W. R. Alexander, having been obtained in the hills between 

 Upper Sind and Beloochistan. 



Dr. Traquair exhibited a specimen of Alectoranas nitidissima, an 

 extinct Pigeon of Mauritius, belonging to the Museum of Science 

 and Art of Edinburgh. 



Prof Newtcu made the following remarks upon this specimen : — 



"Dr. Traquair deserves the best thanks of those present for having 

 been at the trouble of bringing to Loudon and exhibiting here the 

 specimen of Alecforcenas nitidissima now on the table. It had been 

 believed that but two skins of this species existed — one in the Museum 

 at Paris, the other in that of Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. 

 It was therefore with extreme pleasure that, on the 26th of Septem- 

 ber last, when Dr. Traquair was kindly showing me over the Museum 

 of Science and Art in Edinburgh, I recognized in one of the cases 

 the third example, now before you. 



"The true history of this beautiful and ill-fated species may be told 

 in a very few words. It would take a long time to recount and re- 



