1907.] ON XUE STRUCTURE OF THE MAMMAL GALIDICTIS. 803 



It is quite possible that when in this condition the flesh becomes 

 unwholesome for the time being. It is to be noted that Heemskerk 

 specially mentions the red tails of the pigeons, from which I 

 conclude he means " Mayer's Pigeon," as this is very conspicuous 

 especially when in flight. 



It nests twice in the year, in October and again in January. 

 The nest is similar to that of the common Wood -Pigeon and merely 

 consists of a few sticks laid together in the branches of a ti-ee a 

 few feet from the ground. The eggs are pure white, similar to but 

 decidedly larger than those of the wood-pigeon. I am inclined to 

 think that the young birds for some time are of an uniform rusty 

 red much like the tail of the adult bird, and that it is only sub- 

 sequently that they assume the adult jjlumage. In confinement 

 they lose to a great extent their extreme delicacy of colouring, the 

 bill loses a great deal of its brilliant ciimson, and the plumage on 

 the neck and breast assumes a dull piiikish slate-colour rather than 

 a beautiful rosy pink. In characteristics generally it is much more 

 a dove than a pigeon. In confinement at any rate they are 

 extremelj^ pugnacious, and being essentially bullies the bird which 

 gains the upper hand certainly does its best to hunt the other to 

 death. 



It is interesting to note that its mental development is at tlie 

 same level as when the island was first discovered. It exhibits 

 not the slightest fear of man, and at the present day it would be 

 as easy to knock them over with a walking-stick as it was three 

 hundred years ago. The climate of these Mauritian forests is of 

 sub-tropical character, and I have no doubt that with very slight 

 protection it would do well in England. So far it has not bred in 

 confinement, but I am inclined to think that the conditions under 

 which they were kept were not favourable. I should much like 

 to see a successful attempt in England, the more so as the time is 

 fast approaching when Mayei-'s Pigeon will be a thing of the 

 past. 



7. On some Points in the Structure o£ GalicUctis striata. 

 By Frank E. Beddaed, M.A., F.E.S., Prosector to the 



Society. 



[Received October 17, 1907.] 



(Text-figures 209-216.) 



In continuation of a series of communications * to the Society 

 upon the anatomy of the smaller Oarnivora, I beg leave to offer 

 the following notes upon the little-known Madagascar Yiverrine, 

 Galklictis striata, which has not, so far as I am aware, been 



* "On the Visceral and Muscular Anatomy of Cryptofvocta" P. Z. S. 189.5, 

 p. 430. " On certain points in the Anatomj' of the Cunning Bassarisc, Bai^sariscus 

 astutus," ib. 1898, p. 129. " On the Anatomy of Bassaricyon alleni," ib. 1900, 

 p. 661. " Some notes upon the Anatomy of the Ferret Badger, Selictis per sonata," 

 ib. 1905, p. 21. 



