1903.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 719 



November 3. 

 The President, Samuel G. Dixon, M.D., in the Chair. 

 Two hnnch'ed and seventy persons present. 



On a Collection of Anthropoids. — Dr. Henry C. Chapman called 

 attention to and described a fine collection recently presented by Dr. 

 Thomas Biddlc, consisting of mounted skins and skeletons of a gorilla, 

 three chimpanzees and an orang utan, together with skeletons of man 

 and a young orang utan. Comment was made on the })eculiarities 

 which ally man to the anthropoids or separate him from them, as shown 

 in the skeleton, muscles, brain, viscera. The structure of the hand 

 and foot of man as compared with the corresponding parts of the 

 anthropoids was dwelt on at length. 



Mr. Arthur Erwin Brown spoke of the specific distinctions recog- 

 nized among the anthropoids, their geographical distril^ution and 

 habits. He explained the hypotheses which have been offered since 

 Darwin to account for the stages in the phylogeny of the Anthropoidea. 

 and spoke of certain characters in the teeth and vertebral column which 

 appear to support Cope's view of their derivation directly from the 

 Eocene lemuroids, without the intervention of catarrhine monkeys. 

 Casts of the earliest known fossil human skulls were shown, and the 

 opinion was expressed that the Neandertlial and Java men were 

 cHstinctly intermediate types. 



