1852.] 53 



trader will venture up from the town of Barra, at the junction of the Annazon 

 and Negro rivers, who may be able to procure a very small quantity of Balsam 

 de Copaiba, or some gums. These traders report this tribe as inoiTensive, living 

 on fish and fruits, entirely without clothing, and killing animals with a blow gun 

 and poisoned arrows. 



The owner of one of these heads carried it with him, and when fishing, had it 

 placed with the face towards him "for luck's sake," and it is extremely rare to 

 get them to part with one. 



These are the only ones I have ever met with from this river ; those in the col 

 lection of the late Dr. Morton, presented by me, were of the tribe of Mundrucus, 

 living between the Tapajos and Madeira rivers, and one is, I think, figured in 

 the works of Spix and Von Martius." 



March 10 th. 

 Mr. Ord, President, in the Chair. 



Letters were read 



From the Librarian of the British Museum, dated Feb. 24, 1852, 

 acknowledging the receipt of the Proceedings, Vol. 5, No. 11. 



From the Faculty of Harvard College, dated Cambridge, Feb. 27, 1852, 

 acknowledging the receipt of a copy .of the Memoir of Dr. Morton by 

 Dr. Meigs. 



'c?- 



Dr. Leidy called the attention of the members to five heads lying upon the 

 table, of what were usually considered as belonging to a single species of Hip- 

 popotamus, under the name of H. amphibius. Two of the specimens are 

 from North Western Africa, and three from Southern Africa. Between those of 

 the two localities, various differences were pointed out, the most important being 

 the existence of a single band of enamel upon the upper canines of the North 

 Western Hippopotamus, and the band being divided into two by a space of three 

 lines on the outer side of the posterior groove in the Southern Hippopotamus. 

 Dr. L. therefore concluded with Desmoulins and Duvernoy, that there were two 

 distinct species of Hippopotamus, and as that of Northern Africa was the ear- 

 liest known, the name, H. amphibius should be retained for it, while that of the 

 South should retain Desmoulin's name of H. capensis. 



Dr. Le Conte mentioned that the specimens of Casteroides Ohioensis, 

 presented this evening, were important, as giving a new locality to this 

 animal. They were obtained by Dr. Feuchtwanger from a well near 

 Shawneetown, forty feet below the surface. 



Dr. Hays stated that the tooth of the fossil Tapir presented by him 

 this evening, was found in the bed of a canal in North Carolina. It 

 had been in his possession for several years, and was the first fossil 

 Tapir tooth found in North America. 



March 23c?. 

 Vice-President Bridges in the Chair. 



Dr. Leidy called attention to the very fine skeleton of Troglodytes 

 gorilla, recently presented to the Academy by Dr. Henry A. Ford of 

 Liberia, which is now mounted and in the Hall. The height, as it now 

 stands, is four feet nine inches. 



