SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 273 



Zoological Society of London. 



June 5th.— Sir W. H. Flower, K.C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., President, in 

 the chair. 



The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to 

 the Society's Menagerie during the month of May, and made some remarks 

 on the chief animals which he had observed during a recent visit to the 

 Zoological Gardens of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Hanover, Berlin, and 

 Hamburg. 



A communication was read from Dr. E. A. Goeldi, containing critical 

 remarks on the Opossums of the Serra dos Orgaos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 



Mr. 0. Thomas gave an account of the Gazelles of Algeria, chiefly based 

 on specimens brought home by Sir Edmund Loder, and distinguished three 

 species, Gazella dorcas, G. cuvieri, and G. loderi, the last being a new 

 species of which examples had been obtained by Sir Edmund Loder in the 

 sand-hills three days south of Biskra. A fourth Gazelle, of which a skin 

 and skull had been bought by Sir Edmund Loder in Algiers many years 

 ago, was referred with some doubt to Gazella corinna, the Corinne of Buffon. 



Sir Edmund Loder then gave an account of his expedition in search of 

 Gazella loderi, called by the Arabs " Reem," and stated what he had learnt 

 of its habits and distribution. He concluded with some remarks on the 

 period of gestation in the Indian Antelope, as observed in captivity, from 

 which it appeared that this animal produces young twice a year, and that 

 the period of gestation is five months. 



Prof. Howes communicated some notes by Dr. W. R. Benham on a 

 particularly abnormal vertebral column of the Bull-frog, Rana mugiens, and 

 on certain variations in the anurous column of this frog. 



Mr. Lindsay Johnson read a communication on the form of the pupil in 

 the Felidce, and stated that, after an examination of the eyes of 180 domestic 

 cats, as well as the eyes of all the species of Felidce in the Society's Gardens 

 he had come to the conclusion that the natural shape of the pupil in Felis 

 is circular. Although under various degrees of light he found every shape 

 from the circle through all degrees of oval to a perfectly vertical line, yet 

 instillations of atropine or cocaine solutions caused every pupil to become 

 a true circle. The younger the cat the greater the tendency in the pupil 

 to become pointed oval in ordinary light, and, conversely, the older the cat 

 the more frequently is the pupil circular. Brilliant light always caused 

 contraction to oval, and direct sunlight to a thin line in the smaller Felidce ; 

 in the larger species, Mr. Johnson had frequently found the pupils contract 

 to a small circle. Suddenly alarming a cat had the effect of momentarily 

 dilating the pupil ; while in sleep the pupil was always contracted. This 

 communication was illustrated by models and diagrams. — P. L. Sclater, 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XVIII. — JULY, 1894 



