580 Analpica! Notices of Books. 



Researches. Dr. Harwood also enters into a discussion of the 

 question whether the Simia Safyrus and the Pongo are specifically 

 distinct, or whether, as is generally conceived, the latter is merely 

 the adult or advanced age of the former. He states the arguments 

 which may be advanced in favour of each of these opinions, in- 

 clining himself to the belief that the animals belong to different 

 species. In support of this view he urges the difference in the 

 tiiimber of the lumbar vertebrae, the Pongo possessing five, while 

 the S. Satyrus has but four : the differences in form of the clavi- 

 cles and scapulae of each : the great dimensions of the antrum 

 Highmorianum in the ^S*. Satyrus^ which in the Pongo can scarcely 

 bfe said to exist at all ; and especially the direction of the orbits, 

 and the proportion borne by them to the space which separates 

 them. In the S^ Satyrus the orbit is almost vertical ; in the 

 Pongo it forms an angle with the horizon of many degrees less : in 

 the S, Satyrus. the distance between the orbits is about one-sixth 

 of the transverse diameter of the orbit ; in the Pongo it is very 

 nearly one-half. Adverting to the proportion borne in the Orang 

 Otang by the extent of reach to the height of the animal. Dr. 

 Harwood suggests the probability that the height assigned by Dr. 

 Abel to the individual of that species described by him, may be 

 greater than should really have been given to it ; specimens mea- 

 sured by Dr. Harwood being far inferior to it in height, although 

 their extent of reach fell not very far short of that mentioned by 

 Dr. Abel. 



The " Descriptions of two Quadrupeds inhabiting the South of 

 Africa, about the Cape of Good Hope : by Andrew Smith, M.D.," 

 are those of the Hyama vithsa^ ^' with the body dusky-gray 

 variegated by large black spots or oblique bands, with the neck 

 yellowish, and the extremities marked by interrupted transverse 

 black lines ; " and of the Hyrax arboreus^ ^' with the colour a 

 mixture of reddish-brown and black above ; white beneath ; 

 a white blotch near the middle of the back." The former of these 

 is the Strand Wolf or Strand Jut of the colonists. In size and 

 strength it is far inferior to the Hycena Crocuta^ which it re- 

 sembles in habits, seldom however attacking the larger quadru- 

 peds, and exercising its predatory propensities only on sheep^ 



