1884.] MR. P. L. SCLATER ON RHINOCEROS LASIOTIS. 



55 



February 19, 1884. 

 Osbert Salvin, Esq., F.R.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



The Secretary made the following report on the additions to the 

 Society's Menagerie during January 1884 : — 



The total number of registered additions to the Society's Mena- 

 gerie during the month of January was 120, of which 7 were by 

 birth, 39 by presentation, 37 by purchase, and 37 on deposit. The 

 total number of departures during the same period, by death and 

 removals, was 125. 



The most noticeable additions during the month were : — 



1. A young female Babirussa (Babirussa al/urus), born January 

 16th, 1884, of one of the females presented by Dr. F. H. Bauer, 

 C.M.Z.S., in July 1883. This is the first instance of this singular 

 animal having bred in the Society's Gardens. 



2. A young example of a small species of Cormorant, apparently 

 the African Cormorant (Phalacrocora x africanus), purchased January 

 31st, 1884, and said to have been received from Sierra Leone. This 

 species is new to the Society's Collection. 



Mr. Sclater laid on the table a copy of the lately-issued ' Guide to 

 the Calcutta Zoological Gardens,' by Dr. John Anderson, F.R.S., 

 and called special attention to the following passage respecting an 

 example of Rhinoceros lasiotis living in those Gardens since June 

 1882 : — " The specimen of B. lasiotis is an adult female which was 

 caught near Chittagong, on the estate of Begum Latifa Khatum of 

 Ramu, and the following account of its capture appeared in the 

 'Englishman' of the 17th June, 1882:— 



"This Rhinoceros was captured by the Begum's retainers. A 

 shikaree had gone out to hunt, and when he had reached some paddy 

 fields, he was told by the ryots, who were there at work, that an 

 animal had come out from the jungle on to the fields, and that it was 

 neither a gayl, nor a buffalo, nor an elephant. The shikaree at once 

 sent a messenger to the Begum, asking that assistance might be sent 

 to capture the animal, and, in a short time, a large number of people 

 had arrived armed with sticks. The locality to which the beast had 

 retired presented facilities for its capture, as it was a small isolated 

 hill or teelah separated from the high range of mountains to the east. 

 The shikaree arranged his men between the teelah and the main 

 range with instructions not to allow the animal to escape in that 

 direction, but that if it made for an adjoining jheel, or for an open 

 slope towards the village, it was to be allowed to pass by either of 

 these ways, as it would be possible to noose it in the jheel, and to 

 capture it if it went to the village. The animal, however, refused to 

 show itself, and did not come out of the dense jungle ; but the wovld- 

 be captors were aware that it was moving round the teelah, and at 

 length the shikaree, by climbing a tree, was able to make out that it 

 was a Rhinoceros. They then tied a number of ropes to the branches 



