318 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
mufiication between the Greeks and ^Ethiopia. Arab authors, however, ac¬ 
cording to Bochart (1663), frequently mention it. It seems to have been 
reintroduced into Europe at the time of the Crusades; but the only notice of it 
known to the author occurs a.d. 1260, amongst the presents sent by the Mame¬ 
luke Sultan of Egypt to the Emperor Michael Paljeologus. This was probably 
the last specimen seen at Constantinople previous to the Turkish conquest, and 
with the exception of two sent over by the Sultan of Egypt, in the fifteenth 
century—one to the Emperor Frederick IIL, the other to Lorenzo de* Medici, 
the author has not found any allusion to its having been seen alive in Europe 
from that time to its recent introduction. Frequent notices, however, of it are 
given by European travellers who visited the courts of Oriental sovereigns. The 
animal was found, towards the end of the 18th century, at the Cape of Good 
Hope; and, its skin having been brought to Europe by Patterson and Gordon, 
enabled Buffon to describe it; and a complete account of its habits was furnished 
by Le Vaillant. It is only within a few years that it has been re-discovered 
in its original known habitat of Abyssinia and Kordofan, from which countries, 
since their conquest by the Pacha of Egypt, the beautiful specimens now at Paris 
and London have been introduced to the notice of Europeans .^Athenceum, 
April 7,1838. 
BRISTOL, CLIFTON, AND WEST OF ENGLAND ZOOLOGICAL 
SOCIETY. 
The Annual General Meeting of this Society was held on Wednesday. The 
report was satisfactory. It appeared that £925. 185. had been taken at the 
gate, £102. 16s. from subscribers, and at the Fetes, £737- 6s. 4<A had been 
received. The expenses of the Fetes amounted to £46. 16s. 10 d.-^Gloucester 
Chronicle., April 14, 1838. 
CHELTENHAM LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTION. 
April 24.—The business of the evening being over, it was announced that the 
last meeting of the session would take place on Tuesday evening, May 2, when a 
paper “ On the Study of Natural History” was to be read by Mr. Buckenan, 
preliminary to receiving the report of the Sub-Committee appointed to consider 
the best course to be pursued for the purpose of establishing a section for the 
cultivation of Natural History in immediate connexion with the Institution, and 
to be entitled the Natural History Section .‘—Cheltenham Looker-On, April 28, 
1838. 
