414 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL MIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



desert throughout the year and have far greater knowledge of water holes than 

 the Bedouins themselves. Then hunters dress m Gazelle skins and can approach 

 within touch of Gazelle and Ostriches before firing their rifles. Their rifles are 

 for the most part of a very old type, the reason being that if they carried modern 

 rifles, the Bedouin would certainly take them away from them. Otherwise the 

 Bedouin do not molest them. Burton in his " Pilgrimage from El Medianah to 

 Meccah " says that there is a beUef prevalent throughout Arabia that Ostriches 

 fling stones at their pursuers, he writes that this superstition may have arisen from 

 the " pebbles being flung up by the birds' large feet or it may have been a 

 foolery of fancy." A full account of the Arabian Ostrich will appear in the 

 next number of the Journal. 



A number of skins were collected for the Sooiety by Mr. J. P. Mills, I.C.S., from 

 Mokokchung in the Naga Hills. The collection contained examples of the Red 

 Serow, Gibbon, Himalayan Monkey, Chinese Scaly Ant-Eater, Porcupine 

 and Bamboo Rats. Specimens of the three kinds of bamboo rats which occur 

 W-thin Indian limits were shown. These were a giant species, a medium sized 

 one and a smaUer animal. The bamboo rats are an interesting genus of rodents . 

 They are found in India along the base of the Himalayas in Assam, Burma, 

 Siam and China. They burrow under the roots of large trees using their large 

 teeth and claws for the purpose, or live in the tall rank jungle grass. They are 

 molelike m appearance with thickset bodies, very small eyes and ears and 

 short limbs. Their principal food consists of roots. They are eaten by many 

 of the Burmese and Assamese Hill tribes. The greater part of Mr. Mill 's 

 collection is in England where it is being worked out at the British Museum by 

 Mr. Wroughton who has promised to write a report on it for the Journal. 



A specimen of a Pigmy Hog was shown. The specimen was obtained by 

 Mr. Chaston on the Bhutan Border. This animal is found at the foot of the 

 Himalayas in Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim, it measures about 26in. in length and 

 stands llin. in height. It hves chiefly in the high jungle grass in small herds 

 of from five to twenty. Another remarkable animal shown was the Plying 

 Lemur which was sent in by Mx. A. S. Wood from Tavoy. The Flying Lemur 

 bears the same relation to the Tree Shrews as does the Flying Squirrel 

 to the true squirrel. It has a curious expansion of skin along each side of its 

 body which extends from the throat to the tip of the tail and is used as a kind 

 of parachute in ghding from tree to tree. The animal is purely nocturnal and 

 passes the day by hanging by its legs against the branch or trunk of a tree from 

 which its mottled marking renders it scarcely distinguishable. 



A collection of small Mammals and reptiles was obtained for the Society by 

 Capt. C. M. Ingoldby, who had found time to interesting himself on the Society's 

 behalf under the most disadvantageous conditions. Live specimens of the desert 

 moniter and the spiny tafled lizard were presented by him and are shown in the 

 Society's rooms. 



A specimen of the beautiful Painted Bat {K. picta) was exhibited. Un- 

 fortunately these animals lose their wonderful colouring soon after death. But 

 an illustration in the Society's Journal (Vol. XXI, page 1181) shows up re- 

 markably the vivid colouring of this species. The wings are a bright orange 

 and black and the body is buff coloured. This bat occurs all over India and when 

 disturbed by day is often mistaken for a beautiful butterfly. Favourite roost- 

 ing spots of this creature are the leaves of the plantain tree. 



The head of a female black bluck with horns was shown. The Society already 

 possessed examples of a horned doe, and there were several records of similar 

 heads in the Journal. The present example was presented by Mr. Griparis 

 from Amraoti, Berar. 



