1897.J MB. R. E. HOLDING Oy THE HEAD OF A FALLOW DEEE. 901 



Hadramut, S.E. Arabia, sent to him for examination by Herr J. 

 Menges of Limburg, being one of the specimens upon which Prof. 

 Dr. Th. Xoack of Brunswick bad latelv founded his Capra menc/esi 

 (Zool. Anz. no. 510, 1896, and no. 54i, 1897). The length of the 

 horns along the upper surface in the specimen was 41"5 inches ; 

 the width at the base was about 2 inches, and the depth 3-3 inches. 

 Mr. Sclater remarked that after an examination of this and 

 other specimens of the same animal kindly lent to him by 

 Herr Menges, he and Mr. Thomas had been unable to appreciate 

 the differences upon which the supposed new species had been 

 founded, and were inclined to believe that Capra meiu/esi was the 

 same as C. sinaitica^, which was known to occur on the western 

 coast of the Eed Sea. 



Mr. Boulenger exhibited examples of an extremely rare South- 

 American Fish, Vandellia cirrhosa, C. & V., a small loach-like 

 Siluroid, of which only four specioiens were known to be in 

 collections, viz., three, the types, without locality, received by the 

 Paris Museum in the beginning of this century from the botanist 

 Vandelli, and a fourth, from the Hyavary Eiver, in the Museum 

 of Comp, Zool., Cambridge, Mass. 



In his ' Study of Fishes,' Dr. Griinther had observed that " the 

 natives of Brazil accuse these fishes of entering and ascending the 

 urethra of persons while bathing, causing inflammation and some- 

 times death. This requires confirmation." 



Dr. J. Bach, a medical practitioner of La Plata, who has 

 recently explored the Eio Jurua, and obtained the specimens 

 exhibited, had supplied Mr. Boulenger with the following infor- 

 mation respecting them : — The ' Candyru,' as the fish is called, is 

 much dreaded by the natives of the Jurua district, who, in order 

 to protect themselves, rarely enter the river without covering 

 their genitalia by means of a sheath formed of a small coconut- 

 shell, with a minute perforation to let out urine, maintained in a 

 sort of bag of palm-fibres suspended from a belt of the same 

 material. The fish is attracted by the ui'ine, and when once it 

 has made its way into the urethra, cannot be pulled out again owing 

 to the spines which arm its opercles. The only means of pre- 

 venting it from reaching the bladder, where it causes inflammation 

 and ultimately death, is to instantly amputate the penis ; and at 

 Tres Unidos, Dr. Bach had actually examined a man and three 

 boys with amputated penis as a result of this dreadful accident. 

 Dr. Bach was therefore satisfied that the account given of this 

 extraordinary habit of the ' Candyru ' is perfectly trustworthy. 



Mr. Boulenger further showed a photograph, taken by Dr. Bach, 

 of two nude Indians wearing the protective purse. 



Mr. E. E. Holding exhibited a head of a Fallow Deer (Dama 



vulgaris) from the Drummond Castle herd, and made remarks on 



the specimen as indicating the intimate association between organic 



disease and defective horn-growth. It had been noticed that for 



' See P. Z. S. 1886, p. 316, pi. xxxiii. 



