ON FUR SALES IN THE UNITED STATES. 195 



Eocene period, the teeth are still loosely ranged along the edge of 

 the rostrum, not in deep sockets ; but their structure is nearly 

 that of Pristis, the vascular canals being only much more iri'egular 

 and not yet clearly the centres of well-marked hexagonal prisms. 

 Pristis itself, with the rostral teeth in deep sockets, and with the 

 well-known prismatic structure, ranges from the Eocene period 

 onwards. 



Mr. G. A. BouLENGER, F.R.S., exhibited the head of a Hydro- 

 cyon goliath Blgr., from the Congo, a fish attaining a length of 

 four feet, the largest and most formidable representative of a 

 genus of the family Oharacinidas inhabiting the pi'incipal rivers 

 of Africa. The Nile species is known as the Kelp-el-Bahr, or 

 River-dog, of the Ai-a,bs, and a third species, common in the 

 Zambesi and Limpopo systems, is called Tiger-fish by the 

 colonists. 



The object of this exhibition was to show the enormous shark- 

 like teeth to which special interest attaches owing to a recent 

 publication by Dr. Eastman, who has pointed out their close 

 similarity to the fossils known as Onchosaurus Gervais (originally 

 referred to the Mosasaurs), Ischyrhiza Leidy, and Gigantichthys 

 Dames, which appeal's to indicate the existence of the Characinidse 

 as far back as the Upper Cretaceous, a lange in time which 

 Mr. Boidenger had predicted as probable thirteen years ago, and 

 which is of special importance in explaining the present distri- 

 bution of this family*. 



April 23rd, 1918. 



A. Ezra, Esq., 7ice-President, in the Chair. 



Mr. D. Seth Smith, Curator of Birds, exhibited and made 

 remarks on a Zulu Head-dress made of the plumes of the male 

 Long-tailed Whydah, Chere progne. 



The Secretary called attention to an advertisement that had 

 recently appeared in the London Press, announcing Fur Sales by 

 Public Auction about to take 'place in the United States. The 

 sales in question were only examples of what took place annually 

 in London and other important commercial centres. The numbers 

 advertised Avere smaller than usual, no doubt on account of 

 the War, but they included very large quantities of animals the 



* Cf. C. R. Ac. Sci. Paris, clxvi. 1918, p. 197. 



