1891.] MR. LYDEKKER ON PLEISTOCENE BIRD-REMAINS. 467 



of the second black ring, where the tail was broken, as if given off 

 by the only point of the ring encroached upon by the somewhat 

 oblique fracture, and it extends to the tip. Few Iguanoids have 

 striped tails. In fact I know but a few species, belonging to the 

 genera Lioleemus and Sceloporus, which are so marked, and these 

 genera happen to be among the few in the family which have the 

 scales normally disposed quincuncially, at least in the basal part of 

 the tail, as in the reproduced tails of nearly all Iguanoids. How- 

 ever, the manner in which the stripe originates in the present speci 

 men perhaps excludes any explanation based on phylogenetic con- 

 siderations. But it is a most remarkable fact how constant the type 

 of scaling of the regenerated tail in these Iguanidce is, in spite of 

 so much diversity in the scaling of the intact organ, as shown by 

 Hoplurus, Cfenosaura, Liolcemvs, and many others which I have 

 been able to examine ^ ; whilst, on the other hand, all Lacertidce, 

 Teiidce, Zonuridce, and Gerrhosauridce reproduce verticillate tails, 

 whatever their normal scaling may be." 



Mr. R. Gordon Wickham exhibited a remarkably fine pair of 

 horns of the Gemsbok Antelope {Oryx gazella) obtained near Port 

 Ehzabeth, Cape Colony. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On Pleistocene Bird-remains from the Sardinian and 

 Corsican Islands. By R. Lydekker, B.A. 



[Keceived July 30, 1891.] 

 (Plate XXXVII.) 



During the past summer I received from my friend Prof. C. J. 

 Forsyth Major, of Florence, a small collection of bird-bones from 

 Pleistocene deposits in the Sardinian and Corsican islands, with the 

 request that I would undertake their examination. The great . 

 majority of these specimens were obtained from a cave at Pietro 

 Tampoia in the island of Tavolara, on the north-east coast of Sar- 

 dinia ; while others came from the ossiferous breccia of Monte San 

 Giovanni, near the town of Iglesias, in the south-western corner of 

 Sardinia itself. The remainder are from a breccia at Toga, near 

 Bastia, Corsica. 



The specimens forming this collection are by no means the first 

 bird-remains which have been obtained from the Sardinian islands, 

 since as far back as 1832 Rudolph Wagner' described and figured 

 a considerable number of bird-bones from the ossiferous breccia of 

 Cagliari. None of these specimens were, however, specifically 



* I find, however, the verticillate scaling on the reproduced tails of Uta 

 elegans and U. nigricans. 

 ^ Abh. Miinch. Akad. vol. i. pp. 751-786. 



