256 ON GIRAFFES THAT HAVE LIVED IN THE GARDENS. [Apt. 5, 



Cseca : whether functional or not. 



Tongue : its shape. 



Food. — Two principal divisions, i. e. Phytophagous or Zoo- 

 phagous, with occasional subdivisions such as Herbivorous, Frugi- 

 vorous. Piscivorous, Insectivorous, etc. 



List of Characters employed occasionally. 



Shape of bill. 



Pattern of colour. Number of rectrices ; and mode of overlapping 

 of wing-coverts, according to Goodchild (P. Z. S. 1886, pp. 1 84-203). 



Vomer. Pneumatic foramen of humerus. 



Supraorbital glands. 



Crop. 



Penis. 



Certain wing-muscles according to Fuerbringer. 



Mode of life : Aquatic, Terrestrial, Aerial, Diurnal, Nocturnal, 

 Rapacious, etc. 



Mode of nesting : breeding in holes. 



Structure of eggs. 



Geographical distribution. 



April 5, 1892. 

 W. T. Blanford, Esq., F.R.S., F.Z.S., in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the 

 Society's Menagerie during the month of March 1892: — 



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

 gerie during the month of March was 107, of which 57 were by 

 presentation, 17 by birth, 23 by purchase, 4 by exchange, and 6 

 were received on deposit. The total number of departures during 

 the same period, by death and removals, was 96. 



Among the deaths, I regret to have to announce that of the last of 

 the Society's stock of Giraffes — a male, purchased Jan. 27th, 1879. 

 We are now, therefore, for the first time since the arrival of the four 

 original Giraflfes on the 24th of May, 1836, without any representa- 

 tive of this Mammal in our series. Nor does there seem to be at 

 present much chance of our being able to supply the deficiency. 

 Owing to the closure of the Soudan by the Mahdists, the supplies of 

 this and other large African Mammals, which were formerly ob- 

 tained vid Cassala and Suakim, have ceased, and, so far as 1 can 

 make out, with the exception of a single old female (for which an 

 exorbitant price is demanded), there are now no living Giraffes in 

 the market. 



From the table which I now exhibit, it will be seen that there 

 have been 30 individuals of the Giraffe in the Society's Gardens since 

 1836, of which 17 have been born there, and 13 have been acquired by 

 purchase. Of these 30, one was presented to the Royal Zoological 

 Society of Ireland in 1844, five have been sold at prices varying from 

 ^6450 to J6150, and the remainder have died in the Gardens. 



