ABSTEACT OF THE PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON* 



December 14tli, 1909. 

 G. A. BouLENGER, Esq., F.R.S., Tice- President, in the Gliair. 



The Minutes of the last Scientific Meeting were confirmed. 



The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been 

 made to the Society's Menagerie during the month of November 

 1909. 



Mrs. R. Haig Thomas, F.Z.S., exhibited seven skins of Hybrid 

 Pheasants, and remarked on the evidence they seemed to afibrd 

 of the transmission of female characters by the male. 



Mr. D. SETH-SjirrH, P.Z.S., the Society's Curator of Birds, 

 exhibited a photograph of a nest built by a pair of Tufted Umbras 

 (Scopus umbretta) in the Great Flying Aviary at the Gardens. 

 The nest is composed of sticks, cemented together with mud, and 

 m.easures about four feet in diameter and three feet in height. 

 The interior consists of a single chamber nearly two feet in dia- 

 meter, with an entrance-hole five inches wide. No eggs have 

 been laid by these birds, although they have frequently paired. 



Dr. H. B. Fantham, F.Z.S., Protozoologist to the Grouse 

 Commission, exhibited microscopic preparations and sketches 

 illustrating the life-cycle of the Sporozoon Eimeria tenellum 

 {Coccicliitm aviiom), parasitic in the alimentary canal of Grouse. 

 The parasite produces a fatal coccidiosis in Grouse chicks, especially 

 during the first month or six weeks of their life. Schizogony and 



* This Abstract is published by the Society at 3 Hanover Square, London, 

 W., on the Tuesday following the date of Meeting lo which it refers. It will 

 be issued, free of extra charge, to ail Fellows who subscribe to t];e PublicatioTis, 

 along with the ' Proceedings' ; but it may be obtained on the day <:'f publication 

 at the price of Sixpence, or, if desired, sent post-free for tlie sum of tUx 

 ^killings per annum, payable in advance. 



