492 Letter from Mr. Ogilby, 



the forest ; depositing two light ash-coloured eggs, rather less 

 in size than those of the domestic fowl. When hatched, the 

 young ones are attended by both parents ; and during incu- 

 bation the male is constantly on guard, ready to give combat 

 to all obtruders. These birds, like the common fowl, scratch 

 up the ground amongst decayed leaves and rubbish, in search 

 of their food, which consists of various seeds, worms, and in- 

 sects. 



It is singular that amongst the numerous useful birds that 

 are indigenous to Guiana, none are found to propagate among 

 the Indians : yet the common fowl (or Gallina as it is called 

 after the Spaniards) is reared in abundance throughout the 

 country. We find the term Gallina, or a corruption of it, in 

 use among all the native tribes ; a proof, I think, that this use- 

 ful bird was unknown in the country prior to the arrival of 

 Europeans ; although M. Sonnini imagined he had discover- 

 ed it existing in a wild or native state, in what he called the 

 " Coq de Guiane" 



Art. IX. Letter from William Ogilby, Esq. in reference to Mr. 

 Strickland's Observations on the application of the term Simia. 



Dear Sir, 



It was not my intention to have troubled either you or 

 your readers with any farther remarks upon nomenclature. — 

 A passage in Mr. Strickland's last paper, (p. 328), however, 

 demands a reply ; and I confess myself rather disappointed 

 that Mr. Strickland has allowed two months to pass without 

 having himself corrected a misrepresentation, which I am sure 

 must have been unintentional, and which I had hoped was as 

 unworthy of Mr. Strickland as of me. Mr. Strickland has af- 

 firmed that both Linnaeus and Erxleben sanctioned his appli- 

 cation of the term Simia, that is, its confinement to the group 

 which Geoff roy calls Pithecus : I showed Mr. S. that he was 

 mistaken in this, in as far as Linnaeus applied the name in 

 question to the whole of the Anthropoid Cheiropeds, and Erx- 

 leben to the three modern genera Pithecus, Troglodytes, and 

 Hylobates, and partly to Macacus. Between candid and ho- 

 nourable disputants this ought to have been sufficient : at all 

 events I was not prepared to expect a flat contradiction from 

 a gentleman who acknowledges that "he had not Erxleben* s 

 work at hand to refer to." I had ; otherwise I should not 

 have taken it upon me to dispute Mr. Strickland's original po- 



