Li7incean Society. 531 



by tlie late General Hardwicke, and hitherto considered as the female 

 of the Hoolock. A specimen of the latter species had been presented 

 to the Society at the same time, and from the same locality ; but 

 their specific identity was sufficiently disproved, not only by the fact 

 of both specimens being of the same sex, and from our being perfectly 

 acquainted with both sexes of the Hoolock, but likewise by the marked 

 difference of colour and external structure exhibited by the two ani- 

 mals. The greater height of the forehead and prominence of the nose 

 in the new species were pointed out as alone sufficient to distinguish 

 it from all the other Gibbons ; whilst its ashy-brown colour and large 

 black whiskers rendered it almost impossible to confound it with 

 the Hoolock, which has fur of a shining black, and a pure white 

 band across the forehead. Mr. Ogilby observed, that we have had 

 two distinct instances of real Apes from the continental parts of India; 

 and referred to various passages of Pliny, in which the Roman natu- 

 ralist professed to describe different races of human beings from the 

 remote provinces of India, whom he relates to have teeth like dogs, 

 to live among trees, and to converse by frightful screams. These 

 distorted accounts Mr. Ogilby conceives to have been founded upon 

 the vague tales brought back by the few Greek and Roman travellers 

 who at that time penetrated beyond the Ganges, and proposed 

 therefore to call the new Gibbon by the name of Hylohates Choro- 

 mandus, the name of one of the supposed tribes of men described by 

 Pliny. The same gentleman afterwards exhibited and described the 

 skin of anew species of Colobus, or four-fingered monkey from Africa; 

 for which he proposed the specific name of Colobus leucomeros, on 

 account of the white colour of the thighs, the rest of the animal being 

 a deep shining black. 



Dr. Smith exhibited some small Quadrupeds, forming part of the 

 collection obtained during his recent expedition into South Africa. 

 They consisted of some new or rare species belonging to the genera 

 Macroscelides, Chrysochloris, Pteromys, and Otomys. Dr. Smith en- 

 tered into some interesting details respecting their habits, which will 

 be published in his forthcoming work on African Zoology. 



LINN^AN SOCIETY. 



Jan. 16, 1838. — Read a Paper on the Structure of Cuscuia euro* 

 pcea. By Charles C. Babington, Esq., M.A., F.L.S. 



ITie descriptions and figures of this plant given in the various 

 w'orks on our native plants are very imperfect. Mr. Babington's 

 observations on recent specimens gathered in Sussex, in company 

 with Mr. Bower, confirm the statement of Mr. Brown as to the ex- 

 istence of scales in the tube of the corolla, a fact denied both by 

 Sir J. E. Smith and Sir W. Hooker, who, however, appear to have 

 examined dried specimens. These scales are transparent, closely 

 pressed to the corolla, and very minute, so that they are easily over- 

 looked, even in recent specimens, and in dried ones it is scarcely 

 possible to discern them. They are bicuspidate, erect, and situated 

 at the inner base of the filaments, which they partially inclose. 

 Their form and position appear to have been first accurately described 



2X2 



