1880.] MR. E. R. ALSTON ON ANTECHINOMYS LANIGERA. 187 



eggs in layers, one over the other, very nicely arranged in a circular 

 form. They throw a very thiu and loose covering of sand over them 

 to the depth of about 12 or 13 inches, and then make a small heap 

 of sand over the place, 



" Very much like the Iguanas, Crocodiles also seem to lay all their 

 eggs (between twenty and thirty in number) at the same time, and 

 never disturb the nest until the hatching-time is finished, which 

 lasts nearly ten weeks. 



" They generally watch the eggs during the day, remaining in tlie 

 hole made for themselves, and go at night in search of food. On 

 cloudy and rainy days they are frequently seen upon the eggs, perhaps 

 to warm them, but at other times move about the place or remain in 

 the hole, 



" All these actions are performed by the females ; the males are 

 never seen about the nesting-place. 



" They do not allow anybody to go near the eggs ; they make a 

 fearful roaring noise, and attempt to attack people who go near. 

 They keep a very strict watch, and very seldom or never quit the place 

 during the day ; but the wild Jackal (a sagacious brute) watches 

 them carefully, and sometimes gets at the eggs in the absence of the 

 mother. 



" It is very difficult to find out the spot where the eggs are laid 

 by Crocodiles, although they usually lay near the hole in which 

 they live. 



" The mother, who watches the place where the eggs are laid, never 

 interferes with the nest, but carefully and attentively waits until the 

 young are hatched, and then takes them into her large hole and 

 under her protection, where they remain under her care for some 

 time." 



Mr. Edward R. Alston exhibited a coloured drawing of an 

 adolescent specimen of Tapirus dowi in the Paris Museum, for which 

 he was indebted to the kindness of Prof. A. Milne-Edwards. This 

 individual, which was of an almost uniform dark-brown colour, had 

 been obtained by Mr. Carmiol on the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica' thus 

 negativing Mr. Alston's former suggestion that Dow's Tapir might 

 prove to be confined to the Pacific slopes of Central America'. The 

 British Museum has lately received a skeleton of T. hairdi from the 

 same district, proving that the two forms are found together at least 

 in some localities. ' 



Mr. Alston also exhibited a specimen of a remarkable and little- 

 known Australian Marsupial, AntecMnomys lanic/era (Gd.), belono^ing 

 to the Museum of the University of Cambridge, remarking thatlvin 

 Gould's original illustration' was so misleading, and Mr. KrefFc's' 

 generic characters' so insuflScient, that it was only by a reference to 



' P. Z. S. 1879, p. 666. 



^ Mamrn. of Austr. i. pi. xxxiii. 3 p_ 2. g. i866, p. 434. 



