1871.] PROF. OWEN ON DIDUS INEPTUS. 299 



are given in a very interesting letter from M. L. D. Carreau, Apos- 

 tolic Missionary in Thibet, published in a recent number of the 

 ' Bulletin ' of the Societe d' Acclimatation of Paris (ser. 2, vii. p. 582). 



4. A Civet Cat (Viverra) from Quiah, north of the Cameroons 

 river, purchased March 27, the determination of which has caused 

 me some little difficulty. It is manifestly specifically different from 

 the Civet Cat now in the Society's collection, which was presented in 

 1860 by Mr. Edmund Gabriel, H.B.M. Commissioner at Loanda, 

 and was, I believe, obtained in the vicinity of that city. The only 

 second species of African Civet Cat described is, as far as I know, 

 Viverra poor tmanni, Pucheran*, "similisV. civettse, sed major vit- 

 taque oculari nigra nasum non transeunte." This does not agree at 

 all well with our newly acquired animal, which is remarkable for its 

 long rounded and Genet-like tail, and for the much greater distinct- 

 ness of the bands on the body than in V. civetta. But the black 

 ocular band does not cross the nose in the Angolan animal, whereas 

 it does in the specimen lately received from Quiah. Under these 

 circumstances I cannot at present undertake to decide which of them 

 (if either) is referable to Viverra poortmanni, and must wait until 

 their death affords me an opportunity of making an accurate exami- 

 nation of them. 



The accompanying figure by Mr. Smit (Plate XXIX.) will serve 

 to render this doubtful animal more easilv recognizable. 



Mr. H. E. Dresser, F.Z.S., exhibited a specimen of the Yellow- 

 billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) which had been picked up dead 

 in a wood near Aberystwith by Mr. C. J. Williams, and sent up to 

 town for examination by Captain Coscus of Uuys Hir House, Llan- 

 dovey, in whose collection it had remained. This made the fifth 

 occurrence of this Cuckoo in Great Britain on record, four having 

 been recorded by Yarrell. 



The specimen above referred to showed no signs of having been 

 in captivity, and was apparently a young bird. 



Sir Victor Brooke, Bart., F.Z.S., exhibited and made remarks on 

 a mounted specimen of an Esquimaux Curlew (Numenius borealis) 

 which had been recently obtained near Sligo, in Ireland, and belonged 

 to his own collection. 



Prof. Owen, F.R.S., F.Z.S., read the second part of his memoir 

 on the Dodo (Didus ineptus). This communication contained notes 

 based on an articulated specimen of the skeleton of this extinct bird 

 which had been recently prepared for the collection of the British 

 Museum from bones transmitted from the Mauritius by Mr. G. 

 Clark, C.M.Z.S. 



This paper will be published in the Society's Transactions. 



* Rev. Zool. 1855, p. 304, et Arch. d. Mus. x. p. 109, pi. ix. 



