Zoological Society. 



147 



eseence by which no sensible changes are communicated to the em- 

 bryo within. Thus at a time when the air is excessively disturbed 

 by explosions of lightning and by the shocks of thunder-storms, the 

 business of incubation is carried on in a space completely isolated, 

 and the egg suffers no change of property by the varied electric ac- 

 tion that is prevailing in the free atmosphere around." 



Some notes on the Wild Antelope of Khaurism (Antilope Saiga, 

 Pall.), by Capt. James Abbott, communicated by K. E. Abbott, Esq., 

 Corr. Memb., were read. The author, after giving a description of 

 the animal, adds, " It lives in large flocks in the steppe between the 

 river Oxus and the Caspian. When pursued it bounds like the An- 

 telope, but being much smaller and less vigorous, is run down by 

 the coarse Persian Greyhound of the Turcoman and Kuzzauk. The 

 Turkish name is Kaigh and Soghoke." 



Mr. Gould exhibited a specimen of the Apteryx australis, in which 

 the beak was shorter, and also more dilated at the base, than in. 

 other specimens which he had examined. 



Mr. Yarrell read his description of the trachea of a male Spur- 

 winged Goose, Anser gambensis and Chenalopex gambensis of authors. 



" A male specimen of this native of Northern and Western Africa 

 died lately in the gardens of the Zoological Society, after living in 

 confinement in the aviary nearly twelve years. Advantage was taken 

 of this opportunity to examine the organ of voice, which is generally 

 found to possess some remarkable variety in form throughout the 

 species of the extensive family of Anatidce, and this expectation was 

 realized. The windpipe of the Spur-winged Goose, which is, I be- 

 lieve, undescribed, measures about sixteen inches in length ; the tube 

 flattened throughout, except at the bottom, where it is nearly cylin- 

 drical. The bone at the bottom of the trachea, from which the bron- 

 chial tubes have their origin, is again flattened, and has on the left 

 side a bony protuberance, forming a hollow labyrinth, about five- 

 eighths of an inch wide, seven-eighths of an inch high, and three- 

 eighths of an inch thick from front to back. This bony enlargement 

 is perforated with various apertures on each surface, which in a na- 

 tural state are covered by a delicate semi-transparent membrane." 



Mr. Waterhouse called the attention of the Members to some im- 

 perfect skins of various species of Monkeys from Fernando Po, pre- 

 sented to the Society by George Knapp, Esq. The Curator observed, 

 that he had selected these specimens from a large number of skins, 

 sent from the locality mentioned, and that on a former occasion he 

 had had an opportunity of examining a similar series, from which the 

 specimens were selected which were described in the Proceedings for 

 May 1838, p. 57, under the names Colobus Pennantii, Colobus Satanas, 

 Cercopithecus Martini, and Cercopithecus erythrotis. In the present 

 collection is a skin of the Cercopithecus erythrotis, in which the face 

 is nearly perfect, and exhibits a transverse red mark, crossing the 

 nose ; this mark is not due to the colour of the skin, but to short, 

 bright, rust-coloured hairs. The upper lip is covered with blackish 

 hairs, and a band composed of long blackish hairs runs backwards, 



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