1861.] LETTER FROM MR. R. SWINHOE. 235 



June nth, 1861. 

 Dr. J. E. Gray, V.P., in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the following extracts from a letter addressed 

 to him by Robert Swiuhoe, Esq. (Corr. Memb.), dated " British 

 Consulate, Amoy, China, April 5th, 1861." 



" I see, in the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History' for 

 February 1861, page 143, on the Japanese Deer, that a mistake 

 has occurred, owing to incorrect information. Mr. Blyth describes a 

 Deer under the name Cervus taionanus, from the skull of an adult I 

 sent him. This was procured from the Formosan Deer, supposed to 

 be C. pseiidaxis. Subsequently I sent him four living Deer, which I 

 distinctly informed him were received from Japan ; but whether 

 through inability to read my letter, or for some reasons to me un- 

 known, he set down in his belief that the old buck was from Formosa 

 and the other three from Japan. All four of the Deer sent him were 

 from Japan, and the skull alone from Formosa. There can be no 

 possible doubt that the former belong to the Japanese species C. 

 sikct, Temm. et Schleg., of the ' Fauna Japonica.' That the For- 

 mosan Deer is distinct from the Japanese I have no shadow of doubt, 

 from the various opportunities I have had of comparing the animals 

 from the two different places. The old Formosan bucks stand at 

 least one foot higher than the Japanese bucks, and their horns are 

 somewhat flattened at the end. One of the former has been sent by 

 the Dutch consul here to Leyden. I am doing my utmost to pro- 

 cure a pair of these handsome animals for the Zoological Gardens. 

 I am told that a Stag is also found near Ningpo, but have never 

 seen examples. The large species from the north found in the 

 Summer Palace Gardens, of which I have sent three skins to the 

 Society, you will be able to determine as soon as the ' Harkaway,' 

 in which vessel they were shipped, arrives in England. If the Zoolo- 

 gical Society will remunerate the masters of the vessels for the con- 

 veyance of iive Deer to England, I dare say I can manage to defray 

 all expenses here in procuring the animals." 



Dr. Gray made some observations on an immature specimen of au 

 Antelope in Capt. Speke's collection from Zanzibar, which he was 

 inclined to refer to a new species of Calotragus. 



Dr. A. Giinther exhibited, on the part of Mr. J. Y. Johnson, an 

 example of the singular Fish described under the name of Saccolarynx 

 Jlagellum by Dr. Mitchell, and Ophiognathus ampullaceus by Dr. 

 Harwood. This had been obtained at Madeira by Mr. Johnson, 

 and, when captured, contained in its stomach a large specimen of a 

 Gadoid Fish. 



Mr. Leadbeater exhibited some very fine examples of the heads 

 and horns of the Ovis amnion of the Himalayas, belonging to Major 

 Edwardes. 



