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December 9, 1851. 

 W. Yarrell, Esq., in the Chair. 

 The following papers were read : — 



1. On some Bones of Didus. By A. D. Bartlett. 



(Aves, PI. XLV.) 



The history of the Dodo having been recently the subject of so 

 much inquiry, and the exertions made by Mr. Strickland, Dr. Mel- 

 yille and others, having succeeded in bringing together so many 

 important facts, it might appear that there was little more to be said 

 upon the subject ; this, however, I believe is far from being the case. 

 A few facts established upon a subject which was before obscured in 

 doubt and error will, I trust, always act as a charm, and induce us at 

 every opportunity to investigate that subject still further, in the hope 

 of learning the truth. On the present occasion I am desirous of call- 

 ing attention to a few bones upon the table. In so doing I beg to 

 say, that in the year 1830 a collection of bones arrived in Paris, which 

 attracted the attention of the scientific world. These bones came 

 from the island of Rodriguez, but on account of their being incrusted 

 with stalagmite, little has been done with them ; they were, however, 

 the cause of search being made for more in the same locality, and two 

 collections were made in the year 1831 by the late Mr. Telfair. One 

 of these collections was forwarded to the Andersonian Museum in 

 Glasgow, the other to the collection of this Society, and at the even- 

 ing meeting, March 12, 1833, the bones sent by Mr. Telfair were 

 laid upon the table. 



I will here read an extract from the Society's Proceedings : — " Dr. 

 Grant pointed out that they were the bones of the hinder extremity 

 of a large bird, and the head of a humerus. With reference to the 

 metatarsal bone, which was long and strong. Dr. Grant pointed out 

 that it possessed the articulating surfaces for four toes, three directed 

 forwards and one backwards, as in the foot of the Dodo preserved in 

 the British Museum, to which it was also proportioned in magnitude 

 and form." 



I beg now to I'ead a paragraph from Mr. Strickland's book. At 

 page 52 we find: "The bones sent by Mr. Telfair in 1833 to the 

 Zoological Society have met with some unfortunate fate. Three or 

 four years ago, Mr. Fraser, the late Curator of that Society, made, at 

 my request, a diligent search for these specimens, but all his endea- 

 vours to find them were fruitless : he found the identical box sent 

 by Mr. Telfair, but, alas ! the bones of the Solitaire, apterous as it 

 was, had flown away, and the only bones that remained belonged to 

 tortoises." 



In the month of July last an opportunity was afforded me by the 

 Secretary of renewing this search, and I had the good fortune to 



