18 



Mr. R. E. Holding exhibited and made remarks upon some 

 skulls of the Fallow Deer {Dama vulgaris) and the Red Deer 

 [Oervus elaphus) showing arrest of the growth of the antlers due 

 to complete or partial castration. 



Mr. R. I. PococK, F.Z.S., read a paper upon the efiects of cas- 

 tration upon the horns of the Prongbuck (^Antiloccqyra americana), 

 and pointed out that in a gelded specimen recently deposited in 

 the Gardens the horns formed a semicircular procurvature from 

 the root, ending in a slightly incurved point close beneath the eye ; 

 that each horn-sheath, measuring about 9 inches along its convex 

 side, was composite, consisting of six partially severed stunted 

 sheaths ; that the " prong," or anterior tyne, was sometimes 

 represented by a small tubercle, but was not present upon all the 

 component sheaths. Hence the effects of the operation were 

 curvature in growth, prevention of exuviation, and practical sup- 

 pression of the anterior tyne. 



Sir Harry Johnston, G.O.M.G., K.C.B., read a paper on the 

 Mammals and Birds of Liberia. He was of opinion that, although 

 Liberia was not marked off clearly by any natural features from 

 either Sierra Leone on the one hand, or the Ivory Coast on the 

 other, it possessed a certain distinctness and a slight degree of 

 peculiarity as regards its flora and fauna. As regards Mammals 

 and Birds, Liberia was, to a great extent, a meeting-place for the 

 forms of ISToi'thern Guinea (Siei-ra Leone to the Gambia) and those 

 of the Gold Coast, the Niger Delta, and the Cameroons. The 

 species of Mammals peculiar to it included the Dwarf Hippopo- 

 tamus, the Zebra Antelope, Jentink's Duiker, and Bilttikofer's 

 Monkey. The author enumerated eighteen species of Mammals 

 and twenty of Birds, specimens of which had been obtained by 

 various collectors in Liberia. 



Mr. Martin A. 0. Htnton read a paper on Abnormal Remain 

 of the Red Deer [Gervus elcqyhus). The remains consisted of 

 three antlers which were obtained from different Post-Pliocene 

 deposits in the South of England. They agreed in having all the 

 tynes suppressed and in being sujoported upon very long pedicles, 

 thus resembling in form, though much exceeding in size, those of 

 the Pricket. Rudimentary offsets were seen on the most perfect 

 example, which proved the antler to be the third in the series. 

 These antlei'S belonged to individuals who had suffei-ed testicular 

 injury at an early period of life, by which the characters of youth 

 were I'etained for a longer period than was visual. 



A paper by Dr. R. Broom, C.M.Z.S., entitled " On the Affinities 

 of Procolojihon" was communicated by Dr. A. Smith Woodward, 

 F.R.S. 



The author believed that Reptiles in Permian times became 



