145 [Vol. xliii. 



Mr. Bates shot another specimen — a female — on the river 

 Ja, Cameroon, in February 1921, which closely resembles 

 the typical birds, though the back is rather blacker. It is 

 such a rare bird that the great extension of range should be 

 put on record. 



The Chairman said that he was sure the members of the 

 Club would join with him in congratulating Mr. Bates on 

 his recent journeys and on the wonderful discoveries he had 

 made. 



His remarks were received with acclamation by the 

 members present. 



Mr. G. L. Bates then drew the attention of members 

 present to the important work of Steiner on " Diastataxy.^' 

 Mr. Bates illustrated his remarks with a model of the 

 feathers of a bird's wing which he had prepared, and 

 said : — 



" In the last ' Ibis,' in a notice supplied by Dr. Gadow 

 of an important paper on the development of the bones of 

 the bird's wing, the author of the paper is thus referred to : 

 ' Dr. H. Steiner of Zurich, who has already to his credit the 

 satisfactory solution of " Diastataxy ^' — anglice, the missing 

 fifth cubital quill.' Being a little interested in this latter 

 subject, I found, by the help of the ' Zoological Record,' the 

 paper in which Steiner gives an outline of his studies. It is 

 in the'Vierteljahrsschrift,' Naturforsch. Gesellschaft, Ziirich, 

 Ixi. p. 488 (1916). (There the author says that a fuller 

 account was to appear in another publication.) 



" From this paper in the Zurich publication one may get 

 a clearer idea of the significance and probable cause of 

 diastataxy than anywhere else, I suppose. 



"As we all know, in birds whose wing is diastataxic 

 there is a little space or gap between the 4th and the 5th 

 quills on the arm part of the wing, counting from the wrist- 

 joint ; and that space has opposite it a covert, both above 

 and below, for which there is no remex. 



" Another point not so well known, but necessary to bear 

 in mind, Steiner says, is that the first five upper coverts on 



