90 NATUBAL HISTOKY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



The following gentlemen were admitted ordinary members of the 

 Society: — Eobert Moore, Esq., F.R. C. S. L, Upper Merrion- street ; 

 G. A. "Waller, Esq., Brighton-vale, Monkstown ; and Fielding Scovell, 

 Esq., 19, Trafalgar-terrace, Monkstown. 



The meeting then adjourned. 



FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1864. 



C. P. Choker, Esq., M. D., M. R. I. A., Yice-President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the preceding General Meeting, having been read, 

 were confirmed. 



The following paper was read : — 



On the Death or the Lion and Ostrich in the Royal Zoological 

 Gardens op Dublin. By the Eev. Samuel Haughton, M.D., E. R. S., 

 Member of Council of the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland. 



The great interest felt by all lovers of animals in Dublin in the un- 

 timely fate of the well-known Lion and Ostrich of our Gardens, induces 

 me to lay the following particulars respecting their death before the 

 Natural History Society of Dublin. 



I may state, in limine, that my opinion is, that they both died in 

 consequence of the continued frost of three days, followed by cold damp 

 weather, which visited our city at the commencement of January last. 

 It has frequently been remarked by Dr. Connor, and others well ac- 

 quainted with the fate of foreign animals landed in England, that when 

 they die of the effects of climate, the animals that in their native state 

 enjoy the same sort of climate all die at the same time. In the dry 

 continental climate of Morocco and southern Africa, the lion and ostrich 

 are often called on to endure a greater degree of cold at night than that 

 which proved fatal to our ostrich here, viz. 17 deg. Fahrenheit; but 

 they are never subjected to that cold accompanied with damp air, sa- 

 turated with moisture, and continued for three nights in succession ; for 

 during the daytime, in their own country, they enjoy the bright warm 

 sunshine ; and the frost at night may be regarded rather as a healthful 

 stimulant than as a destructive influence. 



I saw the miserable ostrich on the third day of the frost with wings 

 drooping, and neck purple with cold, crouching close up to the little stove 

 provided to warm the house in which he slept, and he looked literally 

 " perished with cold." He never regained his appetite, which he lost 

 during the frost, and died some time afterwards. On examination he 

 proved to be enormously fat, upwards of 46 lbs. of solid fat, five inches 

 in thickness, having been removed from the chest and abdomen. The 

 muscles ordinarily used in walking on level ground were healthy, and 

 in good condition ; but the smaller muscles, used to balance the action of 

 the legs on rough ground, had undergone fatty degeneration, as appeared 

 from their examination under the microscope by Dr. Bennett. The 



