249 



September 15, 1847. 

 A. A. Gould, M. D., in the Chair. 



Dr. Wyman stated that he had received a letter from Dr. 

 Savage, giving Prof. Owen's opinion of the Simla, portions 

 of whose skeleton were laid before the Society at a late 

 meeting. 



Prof. Owen intimates that they may be those of an adult Chim- 

 panzee, from which remark Dr. Wyman inferred that Prof Owen 

 could not have seen an adult Chimpanzee ; the British Museum, 

 and the Hunterian Collection do not contain such. Dr. Wyman 

 has had the opportunity of comparing the remains in question 

 with eight specimens of the adult Chimpanzee in the Cabinets of 

 Boston and Philadelphia. 



Dr. Kneeland exhibited the skull of a Woodchuck, show- 

 ing a curious elongation and distortion of the upper incisors. 



They were deflected to the right, so that the extremity of the 

 right incisor was about 7-8ths of an inch to the right of the me- 

 dian line of the jaw. The left incisor, also deflected to the right, 

 had curved to meet the maxillary bone on the right side ; which 

 it had perforated to the extent of an inch, a little before the molar 

 teeth, displacing the infra-orbital foramen upwards and outwards; 

 its vertex about half an inch from the median line. The vertex 

 of the right incisor was not chisel-shaped, but rounded ; that of 

 the left more pointed. Their anterior surface was considerably 

 worn away by the lower incisors. As the lower jaw was want- 

 ing, he could not say whether it contained more than one incisor, 

 though perhaps the extent of worn surface on the upper incisors 

 would indicate the existence of two lower incisors. The right 

 incisor, measuring the convexity of the curve, was three inches 

 long ; the left very nearly four inches ; length of alveolar por- 

 tion one and one-third inches. 



Dr. Wyman exhibited the Cranium of an Otter, (Lutra 

 Americana,) showing the manner of the articulation of the 

 lower jaw with the cranium. The two were so fitted to each 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. 22 DECEMBER, 1847. 



