1832.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 251 



the perforation has been carried down to the depth of 130 feet, without 

 much difficulty, and a 6-inch tube has been already sunk into it to a depth 

 of 117 feet. Thus far the progress has been very satisfactory, and with the 

 assurance of an iron shaft through the two strata of sand connected with the 

 river at 30 and 70 feet beneath the surface, the experiment promises fair to 

 make us acquainted with the nature and quality of the water at greater 

 depths, whether it may be entitled to the name of an artesian spring or not. 



8. Note on the Japanese Mirror, by the Secretary. 



[Printed in the present number, page 242.] 



9. Mr. B. H. Hodgson's paper on the Buceros Homrdi of Nipal, and Dr. 

 Bramley's remarks on the skeleton of the same bird, were then read. 



The B. Homrdi is the largest species yet discovered of the singular genus,, 

 measuring 4§ feet from the bill to the tail, and 6 feet in expanse of wings. 

 It tenants the lower range of hills from Haridwar to Assam, and is not 

 truly migratory, though it retires to the neighbouring mountains during 

 the breeding season. It has been a prevalent opinion that the Buceros is 

 carnivorous, but Mr. H. has on shooting two species out of four, found 

 their stomachs filled exclusively with fruit, and the other two in domestic 

 confinement shewed always a great aversion to frogs and lizards, and refused 

 to touch rats, mice, and birds ; they were fed entirely on fruits andboiled rice : 

 both would however eat fresh meat, when vegetable diet was out of their 

 reach. 



The Homrdi reaches its full size in four and five years; it is gregarious and 

 sedate; seldom alights on the ground ; its ordinary voice resembles the 

 croaking of a bull-frog, but when excited, it vociferates vehemently like the 

 braying of an ass. The bill is nearly a foot long, very large, cleft to the eye, 

 and strongly arched: the cutting edges brittle and broken in the centre: 

 the casque, about 8 inches long, broad, flat at top ; front in young birds 

 pointed and continuous, becoming crescented and separated from bill in 

 maturity and colour of casque ; upper mandible, deep waxen yellow, passing 

 into orange red ; lower mandible, white ; base of both, anterior of casque, 

 inner surface of bill, &c. black ; iris, crimson ; legs, green grey ; skin round 

 the eye, black ; body and wings, chin and junction of the head and neck, black; 

 neck yellowish white; tail pure white with a broad black bar; all but the 

 two first quill feathers of the wings broadly whitened at either extremity. 

 Tips of the long coverts also white. The female and young are marked 

 like the male. 



The anatomy of the skeleton is minutely described by Dr. Bramley, par. 

 ticularly the connection of the horny and bony substance of the mandibles. 

 The tongue is fixed to the lower mandible, small, and triangular, with- 

 out papillae. 



The cervical vertebrae are only 12 in number ; the dorsal, seven, and capable 

 of motion, whence he infers a limited power on the wing. 



The os hyoides consists of five bony portions; the superior larynx is 

 formed anteriorly and laterally of bone, and the annuli of the trachaa are all 

 more or less ossified. 



