2 THE SECRETAUT 0?f ADDITIONS TO THE MES'AGEErE. [Jan. 18, 



name of Felis dominicanoi-um , after the Dominican Monks from 

 v^ hom he received the specimen. 



I exhibit a colom-ed drawing by Mr. Smit of this animal (Plate I.), 

 and read an extract from a letter of Mr. La Touche's to Mr. Thomas 

 relating to it (dated Foochow, 10. viii. 97) : — 



" I have lately acquired a wild cat which I suspect to be new. 

 This cat was obtained at Kuatun last winter, and sold to one 

 of the Spanish Missionaries, who kept it for several months and 

 who eventually sent it to me. It would appear to resemble Felis 

 temmincJci of India, but differs in some ways so far as I can see. 

 The animal is of somewhat cross disposition, and won't bear too 

 close inspection. In size it would seem to be about 3 ft. from head 

 to root of tail. The tail is long and of uniform width, perhaps may 

 measure 20 inches. The height at shoulders is quite 18 inches. 

 The marks on the face answer to those given in the description of 

 F. temmincki ; the chin is white, breast dirty white with not well- 

 marlced stripes ; ears black outside with paler centres. The general 

 colour is a reddish brown ; the hair would appear to be grey at 

 base, brown in the centre, and tipped with grey or whitish, which 

 gives the beast a greyish-brown appearance. The tail is, I believe, 

 darker at tip and buff underneath. The nose is dull red, and the 

 iris a brownish yellow, pupil round or nearly so." 



3. Two "WTiite-1 egged Falconets (Microhierax melanohucus), 

 presented by the same gentleman at the same date, being the first 

 examples of this diminutive Bird of Prey received by the Society. 



4. A Lucan's Crested Eagle {LopliotriorcMs lucani) from West 

 Africa, presented by Dr. H. O. Forbes on December 18th. This 

 rare Bird of Prey, originally based by Messrs. E. B. Sharpe and 

 A. Bouvier (Bull. Soc. Zool. France, ii. p. 471, 1877) on an 

 example from French Congoland, is new to the Society's 

 Collection. 



5. A young Bear presented bj"^ Mr. AVilliara Crosley on the 28th 

 December, which I have not been able to determine satisfactorily. 

 As will be seen by its skin which I now exhibit, it does not show 

 the characteristic markings of Ursus ornains, the generally known 

 Bear of the South-American Andes, being of a uniform black with 

 a slight greyish-white patch on the throat. It may possibly be 

 the young of a different species from the Colombian Andes, and 

 in such case may be refei-able to that which I shortly described 

 before this Society in 1868 (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 73, pi. viii.) as Ursus 

 nasutus. Mr. Crosley has kindly supplied me with the following 

 note on the exact locality of this specimen, which it is proposed to 

 deposit in the British Museum : — 



" The little Bear 1 sent to you came from the banks of the 

 Simitara, an affluent of the Magdalena on the western side. Tou 

 will see that this is on the eastern slope of the Central chain 

 of the Andes in their northern extremity. 



"Approximately you may fix the position as 7° 30' North latitude 

 and 74° West of Greenwich long., on the meridian of Bogota 

 more or less." 



