5d2 Zoological Society, 



surface of the sea to inhale the air. On the other hand, a vertical 

 caudal fin seems especially required by the short-necked and stiff- 

 necked Ichthyosauri, in order to produce, with sufficient rapidity, 

 the lateral movements of the head, which were needed by those pre- 

 datory inhabitants of the ancient deep ; while, in the Plesiosaurus , 

 such a fin would be unnecessary, in consequence of the length and 

 mobility of the neck ; and Mr. Owen concludes, by stating, that in 

 those skeletons of Plesiosauri in which the tail is perfect, it is 

 straight, and presents no indication of the partial fracture or bend, 

 which is so common in the tails of Ichthyosauri, 



Figures of the tails of five specimens oi Ichthyosauri, now in Lon- 

 don, accompanied the Note ; the subject of which was also illus- 

 trated by a sixth skeleton of an Ichthyosaurus on the Table, the 

 property of Sir John Mordaunt, Bart. 



A paper was commenced, on the Primary Formations of England, 

 by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, V.P.G.S.; Woodwardian Professor in 

 the University of Cambridge, &c. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

 [Continued from p. 531.] 



July 11, 1837. — A letter was read from Mr. Hugh Cuming, Cor- 

 responding Member, dated Manilla, December 24th, 1836, addressed 

 to the late Secretary, E. T. Bennett, Esq. 



Mr. Cuming states in this letter that he is actively engaged in 

 his favourite pursuit, that of collecting objects in various depart- 

 ments of natural history, and he speaks very highly of the assistance 

 afforded him by the public authorities at Manilla in prosecuting his 

 researches. This letter was accompanied by a large box of skins of 

 birds and quadrupeds, part of which were a donation to the Society. 



A letter was read from Keith Edward Abbott, Esq., Correspond- 

 ing Member, dated Erzeroum, May 12, 1837, stating that he had 

 dispatched a box of bird-skins for the Society. 



Mr. Martin then laid before the meeting the following observa- 

 tions on the Proboscis Monkey, or ' Guenon h long nez.* (Simia Na- 

 salis.) 



The genus Nasalis, of which the " Guenon alongnez" of BufFon, 

 (suppl. vii.,) or Proboscis Monkey of Shaw, is the type, was founded 

 by GeofFroy St. Hilaire in his * Tableau des Quadrumanes,' published 

 in the ' Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle' for 1812. In this 

 outline of the Simiada, the genera Semnopithecus and Cercopithecus 

 are blended together under the latter title ; but from this group are 

 excluded two monkeys, the Douc, constituting the type of the genus 

 Pygathrix (Lasiopyga, 111.) and the " Guenon a long nez". With 

 respect to the genus Pygathrix or Lasiopyga, founded upon the al- 

 leged want of callosities, most naturalists I believe, (aware of the 

 error committed both by GeofFroy and Illiger, in describing from an 

 imperfect skin,) have regarded it as merging into the genus Semno- 

 pithecus, at least provisionally, until the internal anatomy of its as- 

 sumed representative be known. 



The characters of the genus Nasalis, formed for the reception of 



