1902.] DR. HANS GADOW'S RECENT EXPEDITION TO S. MEXICO. 351 



adult female of the Equine Antelope {Hippotragus equinus), from 

 Bechuanaland, presented by Major Charles Frederick Minchin, 

 D.S.O. jSTo specimen of this Antelope has been received in the 

 Society's Gardens since 1878, and it is now becoming very scarce 

 in South Africa. 



Mr. Sclater called attention to the specimen of the Greater 

 Bird of Paradise {Paradisea apoda), now living in the Society's 

 Gardens, which had been received from the Zoological Gardens, 

 Calcutta, on the 15th June, when it was in full dress. It had 

 begun to moult at the end of June, and had shed all its plumes 

 in three nights. (The bird was not observed to cast any plumes 

 during the day.) The bird did not commence to cast its flight- 

 feathers till the beginning of August, and it oast about two 

 feathers per week up to the beginning of November. The new 

 plumes began to show about the last week in August. The bird 

 had now completed its moult, and was in fine health and con- 

 dition. It was very tame and lively, and came readily to be fed 

 by hand. It was fed upon boiled rice, boiled potatoes, boiled 

 carrots, boiled eggs, bread, maw-seed, and German paste, also on 

 bananas, grapes, pears, and ntits. It has one raw fresh egg per 

 week, a fresh-killed mouse occasionally, and had all the damaged 

 moths in the Insect-house. Of the last-named the bird was par- 

 ticularly fond, as also of small pieces of sweet biscuits. 



Mr. F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., exhibited the lower jaw of a 

 Wombat which had died in the Society's Gardens, apparently 

 from peritonitis. The molar teeth on both sides of the jaw had 

 grown inwards so as to confine the tongue below them. Though 

 it was possible to free the tongue by bending it sideways and then 

 pulling it out, it seemed doubtful whether this could have been 

 done by the animal itself during life, or, if so, whether it could 

 have been replaced as it was found after death. The uselessness 

 of the tongue as an aid to mastication must not be assumed from 

 the conditions observable in this specimen, since it is quite con- 

 ceivable that the organ may have been paralyzed, and thus 

 rendered it possible for the teeth to close in above it. The 

 animal was old, having been acquired in 1885. 



Dr. Hans Gadow, F.R.S. , gave an account (illustrated by 

 lantern-slides) of his recent expedition to Southern Mexico. He 

 described the Yalley of Mexico, and discussed the question of the 

 Axolotls and their metamorphosis. He also gave an account of 

 his ascent of the Volcano of Orizaba — on which he camped for 

 several weeks at various high altitudes, — and of the two types of 

 tierra caliente met with on the Atlantic and Pacific slopes, and 

 pointed out the various phases of animal life seen by him in these 

 different disti-icts. 



