58 Zoological Society ^ 



properly called a seat or nest, for it has no roof or cover of any 

 sort. The facility with which they form this seat is curious, and I 

 had an opportunity of seeing a wounded female weave the branches 

 together, and seat herself within a minute ; she afterwards received 

 our fire without moving, and expired in her lofty abode, whence it 

 cost us much trouble to dislodge her. I have seen some individuals 

 with nails on the posterior thumbs, but generally speaking they 

 are devoid of them : of the five animals sent home, two have the nails 

 and three are devoid of them ; one has the nail well-formed, and in 

 the other it is merely rudimentary. The length of my letter pre- 

 cludes my dwelling on many particulars, which, as I have not seen 

 the recent publications on the subject, might be mere repetitions, 

 and I will only mention, as briefly as I can, the skulls of these ani- 

 mals in my possession. From my late sad experience I am induced 

 to this, that some brief record may be preserved from shipwreck. 

 These skulls may be divided into three distinct sorts. The first pre- 

 sents two ridges, one rising from each frontal bone, which joining on 

 the top of the head, form an elevated crest, which runs backward 

 to the cerebral portion of the skull. 



" The second variety is the Simla Morio, and nothing need be added 

 to Mr. Owen's account, save that it presents no ridge whatever be- 

 yond the frontal part of the head. No. 9 in the collection is the 

 skull of an adult male : No. 2 the male, nearly adult, killed by my- 

 self : Nos. 11 and 3 adult females, killed b)'^ myself: No. 12 a young 

 male, with three molars, killed by myself: No. 21 a young male, 

 died aboard, with three molars: No. 19, young male, died aboard, 

 with two molars. There are many other skulls of the Simla Morio 

 which exactly coincide with this suite, and this suite so remarkably 

 coincides through the different stages of age, one with another, that 

 no doubt can exist of the Simia Morio being a distinct species. The 

 different character of the skull, its small size and small teeth, put 

 the matter beyond doubt, and completely establish Mr. Owen's acute 

 and triumphant argument, drawn from a single specimen. 



*' The third distinction of the skulls is, that the ridges rising from 

 the frontal bones do not meet, but converge towards the top of the 

 head, and again diverge towards the posterior portion of the skull. 

 These ridges are less elevated than in the first-mentioned skulls, but 

 the size of the adult skulls is equal, and both present specimens of 

 aged animals. For a long time I was inclined to think the skulls 

 with the double ridge were the females of the animals with the single 

 and more prominent ridge, but No. 1 (already described as killed by 

 myself) will show that the double ridge belongs to an adult, and not 

 young male animal, and that it belongs to the Simia Wurmbii with 

 the huge callosities. The distinction therefore cannot be a distinc- 

 tion of sex, unless we suppose the skulls with the greater develop- 

 ment of the single ridge to belong to the female, w^hich is improbable 

 in the highest degree. The skulls with the double and less elevated 

 ridges belong, as proved by No. 1, to the Simia Wurmbii-, and I am 

 of opinion the single and higher ridge must be referred to another 

 and distinct species, unless we can account for this difference on the 



