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XXXI. On the Osteological Symmetry of the Camel; Camelus 

 Bactrianus of Aristotle, Linnceus, and Cuvier. By Walter 

 Adam, Fellow of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh. 

 Communicated by R. Brown, Esq., V.P.L.S. 



Read April 19, 1831. 



The objects in this paper are, to state correctly the dimen- 

 sions of the several bones of a large quadruped ; to trace 

 the mutual relations of these dimensions ; and thus to exem- 

 plify the general osteological form in animals of similar con- 

 figuration. 



The dimensions are arranged in tables, so as to show not 

 only the symmetry of the Camel, but also the aberrations from 

 the apparent normal proportions of a species, and the inequa- 

 lities of the right and the left sides in an individual animal. 

 The Camel has been selected to illustrate the general type of its 

 class on account of the stature of that animal rendering these 

 slighter differences more evident than in man and in other 

 animals of inferior size. As such differences must always be 

 limited by the characteristic symmetry of the species to which 

 an animal belongs, none other than the most exact measure- 

 ments would have been of value. The accuracy that has been 

 attempted will not, it is hoped, be thought needless in a general 

 inquiry. 



The bones measured are those of a Baggage-camel from Ben- 

 gal, and constitute one of many osteological specimens, for 



whose 



