59 



June 14, 1836. 

 "William Yarrell, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Specimens were exhibited of various Birda from Northern Africa, 

 which had recently been presented to the Society by Sir Thomas 

 Reade, Corr. Memb. Z.S. They included the Anas marmorata, 

 Temm., on which Mr. Gould remarked that in the form of the bill 

 it approached nearly to the Pin-tailed Duck, Anas acuta, Linn., al- 

 though it is altogether destitute of the elongation of the middle 

 tail-feathers which occurs in that bird ; the crested Duck ; the Gad- 

 wall; the Garganey; the Ruff, and the black-failed Godivit, in their 

 ■winter dress ; the Golden Oriole ; and other species : all of which 

 were severally brought under the notice of the Meeting by Mr. Gould, 

 at the request of the Chairman. 



Mr. Gould subsequently exhibited specimens of various Birds 

 which he had recently received from M. Temminck : including a 

 new species of Ptarmigan from Siberia ; and a Trogon from the In- 

 dian Islands, nearly allied in almost every particular to the Trog. 

 erythrocephala of the Himalaya, but having the wing fully an inch 

 shorter, with a tail bearing a relative proportion. 



The Secretary announced the arrival in the Menagerie, since the 

 last Meeting of the Society, of the four Giraffes, the capture of 

 which was described by M. Thibaut in a letter read at the Meeting 

 on February 9, 1836, and translated in the ' Proceedings ' at p. 9. 



He also directed the attention of the Members to a specimen of 

 Temminck' s Horned Pheasant, Tragopon Temminckii, Gray, which had 

 recently been added to the Menagerie by the liberality of J. R. 

 Reeves, Esq., of Canton : to a pair of the Serin Finch, Fringilla 

 Serinus, Linn., brought from Italy for the Society, and presented to 

 it by Mr. Willimott ; and to a monstrous variety of the Indian Tor- 

 toise, Testudo Indica, Linn., which had also been lately added to the 

 Menagerie, and which is remarkable for the great irregularity of the 

 surface of its shell, each of the plates being raised into high conical 

 eminences. 



A paper was read by Mr. Martin " On the Osteology of the Sea 

 Otter, Enhydra marina, Flem." It is founded on a perfect skeleton 

 of the animal contained in the collection made by that energetic 

 traveller the late David Douglas, and acquired, subsequent to his 

 decease, by the Society. This skeleton was exhibited. • 



Mr. Martin refers in the first instance to the dentary characters 

 of this remarkable animal, which were correctly described and 



No. XLII. — Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



