VJ 



13(92.] 



SIR E. NEWTON AND DR. H. GADOW ON THE DODO. 543 



which he observed, and possibly those seen by Mr. Sweet near 

 Bristol, may have belonged to Sylvia nisoria — a species with which 

 British ornithologists had at that time little or no acquaintance." 



Mr. F. Finn, F.Z.S., gave an account of his recent zoological 

 excursion to Zanzibar, and of the principal animals observed at 

 Lamu, Zanzibar, and Mombasa. 



Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, F.Z.S., read a description of a remarkable 

 new Echinoderm of the genus Cidaris from Mauritius, taken from 

 a specimen recently transmitted to the British Museum by M. de 

 Robillard. Prof. Bell proposed to call this species Cidaris curvati- 

 sjpinis. 



This paper will be published in the Society's ' Transactions.' * 



A communication was read from Sir Edward Newton, K.C.M.G., 

 C.M.Z.S., and Hans Gadow, Ph.D., M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S., containing 

 an account of some of the bones of the Dodo and other extinct 

 birds of Mauritius, recently obtained by Mr. Theodore Sauzier, of 

 which the following is an abstract : — 



In 1889 the Government of Mauritius appointed a Commission to 

 enquire into the "Souvenirs Historiques " of that island; and in 

 furtherance of their object, at the instance of and under the able 

 direction of their President, Mr. Theodore Sauzier, they continued 

 the exploration of the Mare aux Songes — the marsh in which the 

 late Mr. George Clark, upwards of five-and-twenty years ago, made 

 the discovery of a vast deposit of bones of the Dodo ^ and other 

 animals, mostly now extinct, and the only locality in Mauritius, 

 except Riche Mare, in the district of Flacq, where remains of the 

 Dodo have been found ^ 



This exploration has been very successful, for not only have many 

 Dodos' bones, some of them new and others represented only.by 

 imperfect specimens, been recovered, but also a considerable number 

 of the bones of other birds, materially adding to our knowledge of 

 those that had been but partially described, and proving the former 

 existence in Mauritius of species either vaguely indicated by old 

 voyagers or wholly unsuspected to have been members of its iauna. 

 Beside these there have been found many remains of the large 

 extinct Lizard, Didosaurus mauritianus ^, and several carapaces, plas- 

 trons, and skulls, more or less entire, though none absolutely perfect, 

 belonging to one or other of the extirpated Tortoises. 



Nearly the whole of these specimens have been sent by Mr. 

 Sauzier, on behalf of the Commission over which he presided, to 

 the Museum at Cambridge, with a view to their determination and 

 to the description of such as are new, and this task has been under- 

 taken by the present writers. 



Before proceeding to its execution, it may be as well to recall the 



1 Ibis, 1866, pp. 141 et seqq. 



^ Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1890, pp. 402 et seqq. 



^ Giinther, Journal of the Linnean Society, Zoology, xiii. pp. 322 et seqq. 



37* 



