702 DR. E. HAMILTON ON HYDROPOTES INERMIS. [Dec. 5, 



and advances furthest to the south. I have seven specimens from 

 the woody district of Tucuman, near Invernada (see my La-Plata 

 Reise, ii. p. 499), where the bird was found to be common. It is 

 esteemed good meat, and I have eaten it with pleasure. 



The species named in the same work Penelope pipile is that 

 which you call Pipile cumanensis, and occurs also, but rarely, in the 

 woods of Tucuman, where is likewise found, and not so rarely, Pe- 

 nelope boliviano. I have seen there two specimens just killed in the 

 woods, and presented to a friend of mine, who was intending to make 

 a good dinner of them with his friends. It is also said that a 

 species of Crax lives in the same forests ; but I have not yet seen 

 specimens of it. I suppose it must be Crax sclateri. 



Mr. Sclater exhibited a skin of the Water-Opossum {Chironectes 

 variegatus), which had been sent to him by Mr. Robert B. White, 

 C.M.Z.S., from Medellin, U.S. of Columbia. Mr. White stated 

 that this animal was abundant in the river Medellin (a confluent 

 of the Cauca), which, Mr. Sclater observed, was quite a new locality 

 for it*. 



Dr. E. Hamilton exhibited a skull of the new Chinese Deer 

 lately described by Mr. Swinhoe (P. Z.S. 1870, p. 89) as Hy- 

 dropotes inermis, and made the following remarks : — 



" I exhibit an adult shull of Hydropotes inermis, being the first 

 mature specimen which has been sent to this country, those ob- 

 tained by Mr. Swinhoe being the skulls of young animals. The 

 animal from which this skull was taken was shot in the beginning 

 of this year by Mr. T. Annett in the marshy grounds bordering the 

 Yangtsze river, about forty miles from Shanghai. I shall leave the 

 minute description of the skull of this interesting animal to those 

 more qualified than I am, merely remarking that this skull differs 

 from the general description given by Mr. Swinhoe in its larger size, 

 measuring 7 inches in length. There are also six perfect molars on 

 each side, in Mr. Swinhoe's specimen only five. The canine teeth 

 measure 2| inches when out of the jaw, 2 inches when in situ ; in 

 Mr. Swinhoe's specimen they measure only 1*1. Unfortunately the 

 lower jaw has been lost in its transmission to England, probably at 

 the Custom House. Another interesting circumstance is, that Mr. 

 Annett corroborates Mr. Swinhoe's remarks as to the fecundity of 

 this animal ; he has constantly found five and six foetuses in the doe 

 when they have gralloched the deer, as is customary immediately 

 after it is shot." 



Professor Newton exhibited the humerus of a species of Pelican 

 found during the past summer in Feltwell Fen, Norfolk, and pre- 

 sented to the Museum of Zoology at Cambridge by Mr. J. H. 



* I was not aware when these observations were made, that Chironectes 

 occurs as far north ; s Costa Eica (see v. Frantzius in Wiegm. Arch. 1869, i. 

 p. 318).— P. L. S. 



