THE SECRETARY 0N T ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. 



193 



news caused great excitement in the market place ; the fish 

 changed hands at rapidly increasing prices until 5000 rupees was 

 ■offered ; the fish was regarded as sacred and Major Cartwright, 

 who put it in formalin for the owner and had it photographed, 

 thought it might become the object of pilgrimages. 



The other photographs exhibited by Mr. Regan were of ex- 

 amples of this species in the collection of the British Museum 

 (Natural History), and illustrated the changes in coloration that 

 take place during growth. In young specimens the ground- 

 colour is almost black, the body is crossed by a few curved white 

 stripes, and the posterior half of the caudal fin is clear. In larger 

 fish 3 or 4 inches long the general ground-colour is paler, but is 

 dark-spotted ; the stripes have increased in number by the addi- 

 tion of narrow ones between the original ones, and still narrower- 

 ones between these, so that there may be as many as 24 stripes 

 instead of the original 6 ; also the posterior part of the tail is 

 now darked and is crossed by 3 pale stripes, of which the posterior 

 2 may be discontinuous or connected or replaced by longitudinal 

 bars ; it is these which may simulate Arabic characters. This 

 sta.ge was described as Holacanthus alternans Cuv. & Val., and 

 from now onwards the ground-colour becomes paler and the dark 

 spots better defined, the pale stripes disappear anteriorly, and 

 posteriorly still increase in number but break up into spots and 

 vermiculations, so that a fish of seven inches long has quite a 

 different appearance, and indeed was described by Bleeker as 

 a distinct species, H. lepidolepis, 



March 19th, 1918. 



Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., Vice-President, 

 in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the following report on the Additions 

 made to the Society's Menagerie during the month of February 

 1918:— 



The registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during 

 the month of February were 19 in number. Of these 14 were 

 acquired by presentation, and 5 were received on deposit. 



The number of departures during the same period, by death 

 and removals, was 71. 



Amongst the additions special attention may be directed 

 to :— 



2 Stanley Cranes (Tetrapteryx paradisea), from South Africa, 

 and one Black-necked Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina), 

 from West Africa, presented by W. H. St. Quintin, F.Z.S., on 

 February 21st. 



1 American Bison (Bison americanus), from N. American 

 deposited on February 15th. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1918, No. XIII. 13 



