430 vm. oTiDPiELT) THOMAS ON [May 4, 



May 4, 1897. 

 Herbeet Deuce, Esq., F.Z.S., in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the 

 Society's Menagerie during the month of April 1897 : — 



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

 gerie during the month of April \\as 99, of which 40 were by 

 presentation, 1 by exchange, 43 by purchase, 8 were received on 

 deposit, and 7 were born in the Menagerie. The total number of 

 departures during the same period, by deatli and removals, was 85. 



Amongst these attention may be called to : — 



1. A fine young male specimen of the Wild Ass of Somaliland 

 (Equus somalicus), obtained by purchase on April 30th. This 

 species was oi-iginally described in the Society's 'Proceedings' for 

 1884 (p. 540, pi. 1.). 



2. A pair of Smith's Bronze-winged Vigeous, {Gcophaps smiilii) 

 from Northern Queensland, purchased April 29th. 



These are the first specimens of this beautiful Ground-Dove 

 (figured by Gould, ' Birds of Australia,' vol. v. pi. 68) that have 

 been exhibited in the Gardens. 



Mr. Oldfield Thomas exhibited a selection of the small 

 Mammals collected by Mr. Alexander Whyte during his expe- 

 dition to the Nyika plateau and the Masuku mountains, N. N}"asa, 

 and presented to the British Museum by Sir Harry Johnston, 

 K.C.B. 



Mr. Thomas stated that the collection contained the first speci- 

 mens he had seen of several of the species obtained by the German 

 traveller Dr. Bcihm in Marungu, such as Bhynchocyon reichardi, 

 " 3Ius " Jcaiseri, and Gerhillus bohmi. 



There were also examples of several southern forms not pre- 

 A'iously recorded north of the Zambesi, such as Lepus crassicaudatns 

 and Xerus cepapi, specimens of many S. Nyasa species already 

 obtained by Mr. Whyte at and near Zomba, and, finally, examples 

 of the following new species : — 



XEEUS^ (PaEAXEEUS) ITJCIFEE, sp. n. 



Size about as in the Common Squirrel. Fur soft, thick, and 

 long. General colour brilliant rufous or orange-rufous all over, 

 except a broad patch on the back, from the withers to the rump, 

 which is shining black, with a few rufous hairs intermixed. 

 Throughout the fnr is blackish slaty at base, the tips being rufous. 

 The rufous colour varies in intensity, being deepest and reddest 

 on the head and hips, brightest and tending most to orange on 

 the forearms, hands, and feet, while on the flanks and sides of the 

 neck it is more or less suffused with olivaceous yellow. Belly 



^ For the reasons whicli liave induced the use of the generic name Xcruf; for 

 this animal and its allies, see Major, P.Z. S. 1893, p. 179. 



