148 Zoological Society* 



marked that the anterior index in all the inferior Lemuridce was weak 

 and powerless, and that it had the same tendency to divide with the 

 thnmb instead of the other fingers in the rest of the Galagos, as well 

 as in the Nycticebi, Microcebi, Cheirogalei, and Tarsii, whilst in the 

 Potto it was reduced almost to a tubercle. These genera conse- 

 quently formed a little group analogous to the Koalas and Pseudo- 

 cheirs among the Didelphida, being, exclusive of these animals, the 

 only Cheiropeds in which this character occurs; and Mr. Ogilby re- 

 garded the fact as a strong confirmation of the truth of the relations 

 which he had formerly pointed out as subsisting between these two 

 families. The Otolicnus Garnettii is of a uniform dark brown colour 

 on every part both >above and below ; the ears large, black, and 

 rather rounded ; the tail long, cylindrical and woolly ; and the size 

 of the animal about that of a small lemur, or considerably larger than 

 Oto. Senegalensis. 



A communication was then read to the Meeting by Prof. Owen, 

 entitled, " Notes on the Anatomy of the Nubian Giraffe." 



These notes contain the general results of the anatomical exami- 

 nation of three specimens of the Giraffe, which Mr. Owen had been 

 so fortunate as to have the opportunity of dissecting ; one of the 

 three (a male) died in the Society's Menagerie, and the remaining 

 two (male and female) were in the possession of Mr. Cross of the 

 Surrey Zoological Gardens. 



The author agrees with Cuvier in considering that the external cha- 

 racters of the Giraffe clearly indicate its position in the orderRuminan- 

 tia, to be between the genera Cervus and Antilope; the true bony ma- 

 terial of its horns, which are covered by a periosteum defended by 

 hairy integument, resembling the growing antlers of the Deer; but the 

 non-deciduous character of this tegumentary covering to the perios- 

 teum, and the consequent permanency of the horns in the Giraffe, 

 reminding us of the persistent nature of these organs as it obtains 

 throughout the Antelopes. 



The black callous integument on the upper surface in the horns, 

 is noticed as a probable indication of a tendency to develope a su- 

 perabundance of epidermic material ; and Mr. Owen conceives that 

 the strong black hair which grows in a matted tuft around their 

 extremities may represent, in an unravelled state, the fibres com- 

 posing the horny coverings of the core in the horns of the Antelope. 

 A few examples occur among both Deer and Antelopes, in which 

 the possession of horns is found in the two sexes, as in the Giraffe ; 

 but in this animal these organs present certain peculiar characters 

 in the mode of their articulation to the skull, the basis of the horn 



