80 



" About four o'clock, as I was just giving it up in despair, I suddenly 

 came round a peak of snow, and found the large Ram at about 300 

 yards looking at me : despairing of ever getting nearer, and knowing 

 my rifle would do it if only held straight, I beat a place in the snow 

 and laid it along, taking a steady aim, pulled, and to my delight saw 

 him fall on his side and kick. He recovered himself and crawled 

 into some frightful rock, and there stood showing me his horns." 



The animal was not eventually captured until it had received a 

 large number of balls. " Thus I killed," says Lieut. Smith, " the 

 first Burrhal ever killed by European or native that I can learn." 



Mr. Ogilby observed that the present animal, although extremely 

 rare and valuable, had been for some time known to naturalists, by a 

 specimen in the collection of the Linnean Society, and by the re- 

 searches of Mr. Hodgson, who had described two species of sheep 

 inhabiting the Himalayan range. Recently, however, Mr. Hodgson 

 had changed his opinion with respect to the existence of two di- 

 stinct species, referring them both to his Ovis NaJioor; but Mr. Ogilby 

 believed that another species did inhabit the Himalaya Mountains 

 decidedly distinct from the present, and the horns of which are so 

 capacious, that the young Foxes are said to nestle in such as are 

 found un.-ittached to the animals. 



A paper was then read, entitled, " Observations on Marine Ser- 

 pents." By Dr. Cantor. 



This communication embodies the results of Dr. Cantor's obser- 

 vations upon the habits and general conformation of the Marine 

 Ophidians, a group of Vertebrata to which but little attention has 

 hitherto been given, from the circumstance of the danger attending 

 their examination in the living state, and also from their geogra- 

 phical distribution being entirely confined to the tropical seas. The 

 author being stationed, in the East India Companj'-'s service, on the 

 Delta of the Ganges, had, during a considerable period, most favour- 

 able opportunities for studying these serpents, many of which were 

 captured in the nets employed for fishing. His observations are 

 principally directed to the anatomical characters which distinguish 

 the marine from the terrestrial serpents, and to the modifications of 

 structure by which the former are adapted to the element in which 

 they exist. With respect to their physiology, the principal point of 

 interest he establishes is, the cii'cumstance of all the species, with- 

 out exception, being highly venomous, a fact which has been denied 

 by Schlegel, who states that the Marine Snakes are harmless ; and 

 the same erroneous idea is very current with the natives. Dr. Cantor 

 in proof of the contrary refers to the recent death of an officer in 

 Her Majesty's service, within an hour or two after the bite of a Serpent 

 which had been caught at sea, and also to numerous experiments 

 of his own, in which fowls, fish, and other animals invariably died 

 within a few minutes after the bite had been inflicted. Numerous 

 sketches were exhibited to the Meeting in illustration of Dr. Cantor's 

 observations. 



