1908.] OM THE MAMMARY GLANDS OF THE COYPU. 127 



March 3, 1908. 



G. A. BouiiENGER, Esq., F.R.S., Vice-President, 

 in the Chair. 



^he tSecretary exhibited for compaiison the tail of a young lion 

 in which a caudal claw is known to occur, and read the following 

 communication from Mr. R. Trimen, F.R.S., F.L.8., F.Z.S. : — 



" My cat (pale grey with ordinary narrow black sti-ipes much 

 broken up into short streaks and spots) presents the remarkable 

 peculiarity of a long spur or claw-like horny excrescence at the 

 very tip of its tail. This appendage is firmly seated quite at the 

 extremity of the last vertebra ; its base appears to be expanded, 

 and is covered all round by an elevation of the skin. It projects 

 posteriorly in the line of the tail, is rather slender, gradually 

 tapering, almost straight for about two-thirds of its length, and 

 thence moderately curved downward to its moderately acute tip. 

 In length it is nearly 7 lines, and more than a third projects 

 beyond the surrounding fur. The colour of this spine or spur is 

 dull reddish-brown varied with dull ochry -yellowish, here and 

 there crossed by some bi'oken, thin, whitish lines. 



" The cat in question is a female, small, but rather thick in 

 body ; the limbs are all rather short and the feet small, but the 

 tail is noticeably long and broad with long dense fui'. I am 

 informed by the donor that it was boi'U at Witney, near Oxfoi'd, 

 and is now between seven and eight months old. I have 

 endeavoured, with the kind aid of the donor, to ascertain from the 

 original possessor of the animal whether any kitten of the same 

 litter, or the mother, or other known relation, exhibited the 

 peculiar appendage or any traces of it ; but without success. 



" I may add that I have found the cat unexpectedly sensitive 

 to any handling of the caudal claw, however gentle ; she first 

 endeavours to jerk her tail away, then gives a mild vocal remon- 

 strance, and if the handling is continued employs her paws to 

 stop it." 



The Secretary exhibited some skins of the Coypu *, Myocastor 

 coyjnt, kindly lent him for the pui'pose by Mr. C. Hawkins, and 

 called attention to the doi-so-latei'al position of the five pairs of 

 teats in the female, and remarked that the position of the 

 mammary glands in the Coypu had been recorded by Sir Richard 

 Owen, but appeared to have escaped notice in most recent text- 

 books. 



Mr, 0. Thomas, F.R.S., F.Z.S., added that the dorso-lateral 

 position of the mammary glands was not invariably associated 

 with aquatic habit ; and Mr. E. G. B. Meade-Waldo stated, from 

 personal observation, that the young of the Coypu swam along- 

 side the mother and were not carried on her back, as Owen had 

 supposed. 



* See also P. Z. S. 1835, p. 182, for a similar exliibitiou by Mr. Christv:.- 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1908, Xo. IX. 9 



