1900.] ME. S. L. HINDE ON EAST-AFRICAN- MAMMALS. 267 



Mr. Sclater with the request that be would deposit them in the 

 British Museum. Prof. Bell stated that to the alreadv good 

 collection there thev would be a valuable and welcome addition. 



Mr. G. A. Boulenger, P. U.S., exhibited a specimen of Polypterus 

 lapradii Steindachner, with large external gills, which bad been 

 recently brought home from the Senegal by M. P. Delhez. This 

 fish measured 390 millimetres, and was therefore the largest on 

 record in which this larval character had been retained.. In con- 

 nection with this interesting example, Mr. Boulenger also exhibited 

 a full-grown female of the Common Newt (Molge vulgaris), from 

 the environs of Vienna, bearing well-developed external gills. 



Mr. S. L. Hinde read a series of field-notes on the Mammals 

 which he had met with during five years' residence in East Africa, 

 and illustrated them with lantern-slides from photographs of the 

 animals taken in their native surroundings. 



Mr. Hinde made the following preliminary remarks : — 



The B. E. A. Protectorate, for the purpose of description, may 

 be divided into two parts, the inhabited and the uninhabited. The 

 inhabited ranges of hills are practically devoid of big game. The 

 uninhabited country may be divided into two sections : regions of 

 less than 3000 ft. above the sea-level, and regions more than 

 3000 ft. above the sea-level. The regions below 3000 ft. are, for 

 the most part, densely covered with thorny jungle. The water- 

 supply is small during the greater part of the year. In this dense 

 jungle, eland, lesser kudu, oryx, impala, zebra, bushbuck, lions, and 

 an occasional rhinoceros are to be found, but from the nature of 

 the country and climate they are sufficiently protected from 

 extermination by hunters without the necessity of legislation. 

 Above 3000 ft. the game-country consists of rolling grass plains, 

 interspersed in places with thin bush. In these plains the great 

 herds of antelopes, zebras, &c. which now live and graze will soon 

 be exterminated, unless the game-laws are enforced. One of the 

 factors instrumental in aiding the escape of game is here absent. 

 The ordinary hunter has to find his game, and this is often the 

 most difficult part of the day's M'ork. On large flat expanses the 

 hunter can always see his quarry, and his whole time may therefore 

 be given to stalking or killing it. 



I should ljke to see animals from our Protectorate largely 

 imported into the British Isles, and am convinced that they would 

 both live and breed well in our parks, moors, and gardens, with little 

 or no trouble about acclimatization. On the uplands of East 

 Africa, the zebra, the white-bearded gnu, Coke's hartebeest, impala, 

 waterbuck, Grant and Thomson's gazelles, the lesser reedbuck, 

 and many other animals live in the open without any protection 

 from the biting night-winds, rains, and intense heat. The 

 temperature in the shade often varies from under 40° Fahrenheit 

 at night, to over 80° in the daytime. During a very wet year at 

 Fort Smith, in the Kikuyu district, waterbuck, Grant's and 



