Recent Acquisitions of the British Museum (Natural History)

Abstract

ADDITIONS to the study series of mammals in the Zoological Department of the Museum include the skins of a male and female golden cat (Profelis aurata) from the Cameroons, presented by Mr. F. W. Carpenter. The specimens illustrate the two colour phases found in this species, one skin being and the other grey. A similar dimorphism exists in the bay cat of Asia, and at one time the buff-coloured specimens were thought to represent a species distinct from the grey ones. The Department of Entomology has received during the past twelve months a further 7,773 insects collected and presented by Mr. Rowland Turner, from South Africa. Most of these are small and little-known wasps, and the proportion new to science is extremely high. The Department of Mineralogy has acquired by exchange fragments of a meteoric stone which fell on August 27, 1931, near Yukan in eastern Kiangsi, China. Although the fall of stones from the sky has been mentioned in Chinese literature since 1808 B.C., none appears to have been preserved with the exception of three stones that have been described scientifically since 1923.