42 



chestnut-brown colour, differing from the males of both parent 

 species. Mr. Elvves had also presented to the Society a young 

 bird which he had bred from the above-mentioned hybrid, paired 

 to a pure hen Swinhoe Pheasant, but this bird was not yet in 

 adult plumage. 



Mr. E. G. BouLENGER, F.Z.S., Curator of Reptiles, read a 

 paper on the feeding of Snakes in ca.ptivity, based on observations 

 made upon specimens in the Society's Collection. The results 

 showed that, with rare exceptions, snakes that refused to feed on 

 dead animals were not more likely to accept them if alive. 



Dr. S. F. Harmer, F.R.S., F.Z.S., read a preliminary paper 

 " On Specimens of Cuvier's Whale {Ziphius cavifostris) from the 

 Irish Coast." 



The inclusion of Z. cavirostris in lists of the Cetacea of the 

 British Seas appears to rest on the evidence of a single skull 

 obtained by Sir William Turner from Shetland. By an arrange- 

 ment made with the Board of Trade in 1912, the British Museum 

 receives telegraphic reports of the stranding of Cetacea on the 

 British Coasts. Two of the specimens thus reported have proved 

 to belong to this rare species, and their skeletons have been 

 secured for the Museum. One of these individuals, stranded in 

 Co. Wexford on July 18, 1915, was ascertained to be a male, and 

 it possessed a pair of massive teeth, about 1| inches in diameter 

 and 1| inches in length, at the anterior end of the lower jaw. 

 The sex of the other specimen, which was stranded in Co. Cork 

 on February 13, 1913, could not be ascertained, although its 

 cranial characters point to its having been a female. The teeth 

 were completely hidden beneath the gum, but dissection showed 

 that two were present, in the same position as those of the male, 

 but considerably smaller, their diameter only slightly exceeding 

 half an inch. Casts of the lower jaws were exhibited. It was 

 suggested that Cuvier's Whale is likely to prove less rare than 

 has hitherto been supposed, as both specimens here recorded 

 were at first believed to belong to Hyperoodon rosiratus. It will 

 be desirable to scrutinise carefully future records of " Bottle- 

 nosed Whales," in the hope of ascertaining that some of them 

 really belong to Ziphius or to the allied genus Mesoplodon. 



Dr. F. E. Beddard, M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S., Prosector to the 

 Society, read a paper on Avian Cestodes entitled " On Tcenia 

 struthionis Parona and Allied Forms," in which he defined a 

 probable new species of Davainea parasitic in the Ostrich 

 (Struthio masaicus). 



A paper was read from Mrs. Mary G. Roberts, C.M.Z.S., on 

 the successful breeding and rearing of the young of a pair of 

 Tasmanian Devils {Sarcophilus harrisi), kept in captivity at 

 Hobart. 



