594 Zoological Society, 



was well ncquninted,) refers to this account of Wurmb ; yet Geoffroy 

 does not, as far as I can find, advert to these points, unless indeed 

 his statement of the presence of cheek-pouches be founded on the ob- 

 servation of a sac extending from the lower jaw to the clavicles ; 

 and if so, he has made a singular mistake, for the sac in question is 

 laryngeal, and the words as they stand cannot be supposed to mean 

 any thing else; I know of no monkey whose cheek-pouches extend be- 

 neath the skin to the clavicles ; but the laryngeal sacs in the Orang 

 and Gibbons, and also in the Semnopitheci themselves are remarkable 

 for development. It is evident, however, from the silence of M. 

 Geoffroy St. Hilaire respecting the laryngeal sacculus in the Proboscis 

 Monkey that he was not aware of the real character of the structure 

 to which Wurmb had alluded. With respect to the structure of 

 the stomach, neither Wurmb nor M. Otto drew any general infer- 

 ences from it ; they described it as it presented itself in single species, 

 and regarded it in an isolated point of view ; it is, if I mistake not, 

 to Mr. Owen that we owe its reception as an anatomical character, 

 extant throughout the Semnopitheci. (See his paper on the subject, 

 in the Proceedings for 1833* and in the Transactions of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society, vol. i.) 



This is perhaps scarcely the place in which to introduce any spe- 

 culations, but I cannot help observing that the same structure may 

 be expected in the genus Colobus, which in form is a mere repetition 

 of the genus Semnopithecus, except that the thumb of the forehands, 

 which in the latter begins to assume a rudimentary character, is in 

 the former reduced to its lowest stage of development. In both 

 genera the teeth precisely agree, and present early that worn surface 

 which is the consequence of a continued grinding rodent-like action, 

 upon the leaves and herbaceous matter which constitute the chief 

 diet of the animals. 



The statement of Wurmb respecting the stomach and laryngeal ap- 

 paratus of the Proboscis Monkey I have lately been enabled to con- 

 firm. 



Among the specimens in store brought within the last few months 

 from the Gardens to the Museum occurred an example of the Pro- 

 boscis Monkey, in brine, but in a state of decomposition which in- 

 duced me to lose no time in making such an examination as its con- 

 dition would admit, being indeed extremely anxious to ascertain 

 the relationship of this curious monkey to the other groups of 

 Indian Simiada, groups to which I have been lately directing my 

 attention. 



The specimen in question was a female, measuring from the vertex 

 to the ischiatic callosities one foot nine inches. 



The body was meagre and slender, and the limbs long and slim ; 

 the contour of the animal being very unlike that displayed in the 

 mounted specimen in the Museum of the Society, which gives the 

 idea of great robustness. 



The abdominal cavity had at some former period been opened 



* [Noticed in Lend, and Edinb. Phil. Mag. vol. iii. p. 295.] 



