89 
The pictures of the Dodo were then noticed. One was in the British 
Museum, and there was historical evidence that it had been painted from 
a living specimen by Roland or John Savery, the distinguished Dutch 
animal painters. At the galleries of Hague and Berlin, and at the Belvi- 
dere museum of Vienna, were pictures of the Dodo, among other birds ; 
this last had been copied by Mr. Strickland ; the Ashmolean museum at 
Oxford, the Duke of Northumberland, and Mr. Broderip, also possessed 
original pictures. The actual remains of the Dodo now in various museums 
in this country were then alluded to; the chief were a foot in the British 
Museum, and a head and foot in the Ashmolean museum. 
The position of the Dodo in reference to other birds was then considered, 
it having long been a vexed question among naturalists. Three families 
of birds had genera incapable of flight, the ostriches, auks, and penguins ; 
Mr. Strickland considered that it was allied to neither of these, and was 
probably an exceptional form of some other order; Vigor (Linn. Trans, 
vol. 14) held that it was a gallinaceous bird ; M. de Blainville and Gould, 
that it was raptorial. To Professor Rheinhardt, of Copenhagen, belonged 
the priority of the theory now generally adopted by Professor Owen and 
most naturalists, that it was more closely allied to the pigeons than to any 
other order. Mr. Napier combated this view at some length, urging that 
the bird was so peculiar in its structure, and in fact unique, that it ought 
to have a position by itself. He concluded by quoting from Professor 
Owen's paper on the Osteology of the Dodo. 
The Chairman thought that the conformation of the bird showed 
clearly that it was not connected with the vultures, as had been surmised, 
and especially that its habit of swallowing stones, referred to in the paper, 
showed that its food was mainly, if not entirely, composed of tough vege- 
table matter, as it implied a strong muscular gizzard. Owen's opinion 
that it was allied to a division of the pigeons was alluded to, although the 
members seemed to think that it could not properly be placed with any of 
the existing divisions of birds. 
Time did not allow of the reading of a paper on the Solitaire, also pre- 
pared by Mr. Groom-Napier. 
BOTANICAL SECTION. 
Thursday, October 17th. — Mr. A. Leipner, President of the 
Section, in the chair. 
This meeting was held at the house of the Secretary, Mr. T. H. Yabbi- 
