286 Scientific Intelligence. [No. 4, 



shew well in the spacious aviaries allotted to them. The yellow- 

 quilled Porcupine (Hal alar icics, Sclater,) turns out to he my H. Ben- 

 galensis, the yellow colour of the quills being only temporary. The 

 3 handed Armadillo is a most interesting form, very different from 

 Dasypus, and considerably akin to Glyptodon. There are a fine 

 healthy pair of Chimpanzees, and female Orang-utan ; but no Gibbons, 

 which are particularly wanted ; especially as there seems every pros- 

 pect now of these Apes living, as they are so very much better accom- 

 modated. The Gazella dama lately added to the Garden is a fine 

 acquisition ; and Burchell's Zebra has bred. The Eagle you sent has 

 assumed the mature plumage ; and I think I may say that all, which 

 you have sent, are doing well, the 2 Mycterice, 2 Tantali, also pair of 

 Hcematornis Elgini, and pair of Eudynamys orientalis &c. Gallo- 

 phasis lineatus has bred; and there is a young hen \ Swinlioei; also a 

 half-bred Ocellated Turkey. Males of Phoenicura Reevesii and Diar- 

 digallus. Also the Heliornis or ' Sun Bittern' (a very curious form) ; and 

 the black-necked Swaus. Bengal Floriken in first-rate summer dress. 

 It was sent by Babu Rajendro Mullick in 1857. How is he getting on, 

 and bis store of live-stock ? Three living Apteryx ! Sturgeon still doing 

 well. Garrulax Sinensis from China, quite lively and well : the same 

 as the Tenasserim species. The new Cassowary which I described 

 turns out to be the finest of them all. A living female at Amsterdam ; 

 and its egg quite different from that of common Cassowary, or of 

 Mooruk. I have seen the magnificent fossil head in the British Museum 

 of Elephas primigenius lately dug up near Ilford in Essex, with superb 

 tusks in socket — not curled up as in the Siberian specimens so often 

 figured. Head very different from that of E. Indicus, more like Afri- 

 canus, but the grinders are of the same type as the former. Another fine 

 accession to the B. M. is an enormous aerolite from Australia. 



I must now tell you a few results of interest at which I have arrived 

 concerning Indian birds. The paper is a very long one, and will probably 

 spread over the Ibis for all next year. When I have quite finished 

 it, I contemplate working out the birds of the Indo-Chinese province 

 or sub-region, and then those of the Malayan Peninsula. You may 

 begin by expunging from your list Gotyle sub-soccata (identical with 

 Sinensis), Buticilla pliainicura (as distinct from phoenicuroides) , Phyl- 

 loscopus Irochilus (disavowed now as Indian by Gould), and I suspect 



