138 THE SECRETARY ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. [Feb. 15, 



February 15, 1887. 

 Prof. W. H. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the 

 Society's Menagerie during the month of January 1887: — 



The total number of registered additions to the Society's Mena- 

 gerie during the month of January was 38. Of these 6 were by 

 birth, 21 by presentation, 5 by purchase, 1 by exchange, and 5 were 

 received on deposit. The total number of departures during the 

 same period, by death and removals, was 119. 



The most noticeable additions during the month were : — 



1. Two Blakiston's Owls {Bubo blakistoni) from Japan, presented 

 by J. H. Leech, Esq., F.Z.S., January 20th, new to the Society's 

 Collection. 



Mr. Leech informs me that he procured the two specimens in 

 question from Mr. H. Henson of Hakodate, Yesso. Mr. Henson had 

 bought them from a native hunter, who took them for young eagles, 

 which are common in Yesso. Their exact locality is the lakes 20 

 miles north of Hakodate, and this is a new locality for the species, 

 of which, Mr. Leech believes, only four specimens were previously 

 known '. 



Mr. J. H. Gurney, F.Z.S., has kindly furnished me with the 

 ftllowing notes upon these birds : — 



"Blakiston's Eagle-Owl appears to belong to the Bubonine genus 

 (or subgenus) Pseudoptynx of Kaup, instituted by that author for 

 the reception of P. phi/ippensis (^Gray), and readily distinguished 

 from Bubo in having the toes bare, although the tarsi are feathered. 



" P. phili2}pensis is a native of the island of Luzon, from which I 

 have seen specimens, and was figured by the late Lord Tweeddale in 

 the Society's 'Transactions,' vol. ix. pi. xxv. fig. 2. 



"The only other species of the genus is P.gurneyi, Tweed., from 

 the island of Mindanao, which was figured by Lord Tweeddale in the 

 'Proceedings' of the Zoological Society, 18/8, pi. Iviii. 



"The locaUties inhabited by the three species of the genus Pseu- 

 doptynx appear to indicate that they form a natural group, geogra- 

 phically as well as structurally."— j! H. G., Feb. 26, 1887. 



2. Three Hooker's Sea-lions (Otaria hookeri), presented by the 

 Hon. W. J. M. Larnach, C.M.G., Minister of xMarine of New 

 Zealand, received the 2Gth January. 



Sir F. D. Bell, the Agent-General for New Zealand, informs me 

 that these animals, which were captured at the Auckland Islands by 

 Capt. John Fairchild, Master of the New-Zealand Government 

 steamer ' Hinemoa,' were originally four in number (two males and 

 two females), but that one died on the voyage. 



It is very difficult to settle the species of Otaria without reference 

 to the form of their palates and dentition ; but, judging from the 



» Cf. Seebohm, ' Ibis/ 1884, pp. 42, 183, pi. vi. ; id. P.Z. S. 1883, p. 406. 



