402 ON A REPORTED DISCOVERY OF DODO's BONES. [May 20, 



The Rev. Canon Tristram, F.R.S., F.Z.S., gave an account of 

 his recent visit to the rock of Zalmo in the Canaries, where he ob- 

 tained specimens of Simony's Lizard {Lacerta simonyi) \ 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On the reported Discovery of Dodo's Boues in a Caveru 

 in Mauritius. By Sir Edward Newton, K.C.M.G., 

 F.L.S., C.M.Z.S. 



[Eeceived April 30, 1890.] 



At a meeting of the Society, November 3rd, 1885 (P. Z. S. 1885, 

 p. 719), an extract from a letter addressed to the Secretary by Mr. J. 

 Caldwell, C.M.Z.S., of Mauritius, was read announcing the finding by 

 one of his collectors of a hitherto uuknown deposit of bones of the 

 Dodo {Didus inepfus) in a small cavern in the island. Nothing 

 further has been heard, I believe, of the supposed discovery, and Mr. 

 Caldwell died a few months after he had made his communication 

 to the Society. I have, however, just received a letter from Mr. 

 Evenor Dupont, a well-known shell-collector of Mauritius, with an 

 endorsement by Mr. C. E. Bewsher, C.M.Z.S., which I think leaves 

 no doubt that the late Mr. Caldwell had been imposed upon, and that 

 the bones in question were not those of the Dodo. 



Mr. Dupont writes : — 



"Port Louis, Mauritius, 



March 20, 1890. 



" .... I write to correct a statement made by the late Mr. Caldwell, 

 and published in Proceedings of the Zoological Society, to the effect 

 that Dodo bones have been found in a cavern in Mauritius. Mr. 

 Caldwell, I believe, was induced to make this statement on the faith 

 of a story told him by one of our native collectors (a Creole) here 

 who brought him the bones. The whole thing was a fraud, and I am 

 afraid the bones were not those of the Dodo, but Turkey's. I searched 

 for them without success in Mr. Caldwell's collections when they were 

 sold after his death. I have never heard of any Dodo bones being 

 found except in a marsh at Flacq (by Mr. Ange Regnard, one 

 bone, doubtful) and in the Mare aux Songes at Grand Port. I am 

 the more inclined to discredit the story of the Cave bones, as these 

 men, who for years have made a business of hunting for specimens 

 of Natural History (one of whom brought the bones to Mr. Caldwell), 

 have more than once tried to pass off doctored shells as new species 

 and not always without success." 



Mr. Bewsher endorses this by writing : — " On my return to Mau- 

 ritius two years ago, I went very carefuly into this question of the Cave 

 bones, and the result of my enquires led me to the same conclusion 

 as mv friend Dupont. I fully endorse all he has said, and would add 

 that Mr. Caldwell was in very failing health both bodily and mentally 

 lately, and so the cunning Creole imposed on him more easily." 



^ See above, p. 3iJ-l. 



