654 ME. R. LXDEKKEB ON A MODEL OE A UNIQUE EGG. [Nov. 20, 



November 20, 1894. 



Sir W. H. PiowEB, K.C.B., LL.D., F.E.S., President, 

 in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the 

 Society's Menagerie during the month of October 1S94: — 



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

 gerie during the mouth of October was 103, of wliich 66 were 

 acquired by presentation, 12 by birth, 14 by purchase, 4 by ex- 

 change, and 7 were received on deposit. The total number of 

 departures during the same period, by death and removals, was 108. 



Amongst the additions are a pair of Somali Ostriches {Strutliio 

 mohihclopliancs), from Somaliland, purchased Oct. 26th. This is 

 the first pair of the blue-skinned form of Ostrich, which inhabits 

 Eastern Africa, that has reached us. These birds have been placed 

 in the &iratfe-House, along with a pair of the ordinary form and 

 with an example of a curious pied variety of the Ostrich, deposited 

 by the Hon. W. Eothschild, I'.Z.S. 



The Secretary exhibited, on behalf of Dr. C. Kerbert, C.M.Z.S., 

 a photograph of a Mountain-Antelope {Nemorhcedus sumatrensis) 

 from a specimen living in the Gardens of the Eoyal Zoological 

 Society of Amsterdam, and remarked that he had never seen a 

 living example of this rare animal, and that specimens of it in 

 Museums were very scarce. 



Mr. R. Lydekker exhibited photographs and a model of a unique 

 egg, the original of which had been obtained many years ago in 

 Southern Patagonia, and was now preserved in the Museum at La 

 Plata. If not an abnormal specimen, it could not be assigned to 

 any known species of bird. 



When travelling in the district where the specimen was obtained, 

 Dr. P. Moreno, Director of the Museum at La Plata, many years 

 ago saw numbers of small Eatite birds, which he at first took to 

 be small Eheas. By the natives, to whom they were well known, 

 he was, however, assured that they were adult birds, allied to 

 the Eheas. Desirous of confirming this information, Dr. Moreno 

 applied to a friend acquainted with the district ; who replied that 

 not onlj'^ did he well know the birds, but that he possessed an a^g, 

 that egg being the original specimen of which a model was now 

 exhibited. 



Assuming the egg to be a normal one, Mr. Lydekker was of 

 opinion that, taken in connexion with the evidence of two inde- 

 pendent witnesses w-ho had seen the birds, it pointed to the 

 existence in Southern Patagonia of a small unknown Eatite bird 

 more or less nearly allied to the Eheas. 



Mr. Tegetmeier exhibited the felted covering of a long-haired 



