534 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. X. 



Japan, and within the limits of British India is only found with any regularity 

 on th« Burmese coast and the lower reaches of the Ganges and its branches. 



In the recently-published third volume of the " Birds of India," Mr, Blan- 

 f ord mentions that the species is seldom found far from the sea coast, which 

 no doubt includes large rivers, as he records it as far up the Granges as 

 Monghyr, and I believe it also frequents the Irrawaddy for a considerable 

 (distance from its mouth, so that its presence so far from the sea as Kalyan is 

 also interesting, 



Mr. Brand's specimen wa"; caught with bird-lime, but in the absence of any 

 |>0ssibility of keeping it alive in the Society's Museum, it has been made into 

 aji excellent skin. 



E, COMBER. 



Bombay, \Wi April, 1896. 



No. v.— ABNORMAL SAMBAR HORNS. 



{With an illustration.y 



The two photographs of abnormal sambar antlers figured in the accom= 

 panying illustration, were picked up quite close to my camp in the S^sda 

 Satpuda forests, of Khandeish, on the 13th of last January. All that was 

 found of the stag was the skull, horns, and leg bones, but it had not been 

 long dead, as was evident from the unpleasant odour from the inside of his 

 cranium, Mr. F. Qleadow has kindly taken the photographs and measure- 

 ments as the horns are at present with him ; he sends me the following notes. 

 ^' The stag's horns were partly in velvet when it died : the fairly numerous but 

 inconspicuous remaining hairs of that velvet are ivhite : many of these hairs are 

 still in situ in different places, the portions that remained in velvet can be 

 distinguished in the photograph, viz., the parts F, G, I, J, K, the top of A and 

 H, and just the tip of L, The photo, perhaps, does not show perfectly that 

 the little knot M, one inch high, is part of H, as is the case : that is because 

 the point N, behind it, is irregular and looks either imperfectly ossified or 

 diseased at the end. M is not merely a knot on H, although I have measured 

 it as such, but ean be traced as a ridge along H right down to the fork. In 

 the same way D and E, which look in the print like a couple of 3-inch points 

 joined together, clearly had their origin separately at the burr, but were 

 <erowded together and only recently became able to assert their individuality. 

 At the bottom of the depression behind these is the orifice of a large blood 

 vessel : near it is another in process of obliteration. At P and Q, two other 

 large blood vessels emerge in the form of canals, as their course is nearly 

 parallel to the surface : the canals are a good quarter inch in diam-eter. The 

 point K I might call a stalactitic growth, rather than a point ; it is very 

 common in such monstrosities ; the point is thick and rounded, the texture 

 soft, and the direction downwards, looking altogether more like an escape 

 from a sore than a point proper." 



