294 OX THE HEREDITY OF " HEN-FEATHERING " IN COCKS. 



April 27, 1915. 



Prof. E. A. Minchin, M.A., F.R.S., Vice-President 

 in the Chair. 



The Secretary exhibited lantern-slides of young Grey Seals 

 (ffalichosrus grypus) prepared from photographs taken by 

 Mr. H. M. Banbury, F.Z.S., off the West Coast of Scotland. 

 The seals were about five feet in length on the 24th of October, 

 1914. 



Mr. H. J. Elwes, F.R.S., F.Z.S., read the following extract 

 from a letter that he had received from Mr. J. R. P. Gent, Forest 

 Officer of the Darjeeling Division, on the possible existence of a 

 large Ape, unknown to science, in Sikkim : — 



" I have discovered the existence of another animal but cannot 

 make out what it is, a big monkey or ape perhaps — if there were 

 any apes in India. It is a beast of very high elevations and only 

 gets down to Phalut in the cold weather. It is covered with 

 longish hail-, fac'e also hairy, the ordinary yellowish-brown colour 

 of the Bengal monkey. Stands about 4 feet high and goes about 

 on the ground chiefly, though I think it can also climb. 



" The peculiar feature is that its tracks are about eighteen 

 inches or two feet long and the toes point in the opposite 

 direction to that in which the animal is moving. The breadth 

 of the track is about 6 inches. I take it he walks on his knees 

 and shins instead of on the sole of his foot. He is known as the 

 jungli admi or sogpa. One was worrying a lot of coolies 

 working in the forest below Phalut in December, they were 

 very frightened and would not go into work. I set off as soon 

 as I could to try and bag the beast, but before I arrived the 

 Forester had been letting off a gun and frightened it away, 

 so I saw nothing. An old choukidar of Phalut told me he 

 had frequently seen them in the snow there, and confirmed the 

 description of the tracks. 



" It is a thing that practically no Englishman has ever heard of, 

 but all the natives in the higher villages know about it. All I 

 can say is it is not the Nepal Latigur, but I've impressed on people 

 up there that I want information next time one is about." 



Prof. William Bateson, F.R.S., F.Z.S., exhibited a number of 

 drawings illustrating the heredity of " hen-feathering" in Cocks. 



