1894.] THE SECRETARY ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. 693 



December 4, 1894. 

 Henry Seebohm, Esq., E.Z.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the 

 Society's Menagerie during the month of November 1894 : — 



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

 gerie during the month of November was 169, of which 65 were 

 by presentation, 16 by birth, 8 by purchase, 10 by exchange, and 

 70 were received on deposit. The total number of departures 

 during the same period, by death and removals, was 122. 



Amongst the additions I wish to call special atteution to the 

 following : — 



1. Ten Surinam "Water-Toads (Pipa americana), kindly presented 

 by Mr. E. E. Blaauw, C.M.Z.S., and received November 14th, 1894 

 These have been placed in one of the large tanks in the Beptile- 

 House, where they are kept at a temperature of between 75° and 

 80°. They are free swimmers, and in their present stage appear 

 to pass the Avhole of their time in the water. They were in rather 

 poor condition on arrival, but have since fed well on worms and 

 small fishes, and appear to be thriving. We may, therefore, hope 

 to see the extraordinary phenomena of their development exhibited 

 in the Gardens. 



2. A fine example of Pel's Owl {Scotopelia peli), brought home 

 from Sierra Leone by the Hon. C. B. Mitford, C.M.Z.S., Deputy 

 Governor of the Colony, and presented November 16th. A single 

 other specimen of this species was received by the Society from 

 the Gambia in 1866. (For a figure of this Owl, see ' Ibis,' 1859, 

 p. 445, pi. xv.) The iris in the present species is dark. 



3. Two Tree-Kangaroos from Queensland, received in exchange 

 from the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria, 

 Melbourne, as examples of Bennett's Kangaroo (Dendrolagus 

 bennettianus), which appears not to have yet been sufficiently 

 described l . 



I exhibit a coloured drawing of this animal by Mr. Smit 

 (Plate XLVL). It is apparently quite distinct from Dendrolagus 

 lumholtzi. Mr. Le Souef has kindly sent me a photograph of four 

 examples of this rare animal, taken when high up in a leafless tree 

 in the Zoological Gardens at Melbourne, which I now exhibit. 



An account of the capture of these interesting animals atWyalla, 

 near Bloomfield, in Northern Queensland, by Mr. D. Le Souef will 

 be found in the 'Victorian Naturalist' for April 1894 (vol. xi. 

 p. 11). Mr. Le Souef speaks of them as follows: — "The Tree- 

 climbing Kangaroo {Dendrolagus bennettianus) is generally found 

 on or near the top of these ranges, where the timber is not so high 

 or difficult to climb. They remain during the day on the highest 

 branches of a tree, and descend at night to pass from one tree to 



1 See ThomaB, ' Catalogue of the Marsupialia and Monotremata in the 

 Collection of the British Museum,' 1888, p. 96, 



