302 Skulls of Ancient Peruvians. 



servations on this subject have extended to more than thirty dif- 

 ferent nations. 



He has also brought with him two skulls, found in the tombs 

 of the ancient Peruvians, and which are very remaikable in two 

 respects ; first, in themselves, by the general narrowness of the 

 cranium, and the flattening of the forehead ; and, secondly, by 

 the great resemblance which they bear to the crania of the an- 

 cient inhabitants of Avares, discovered some years since in Aus- 

 tria. On the supposition that this extraordinary formation of 

 the cranium is artificial, as is certainly the case in regard to those 

 of the ancient Caribees, it must necessarily be admitted that the 

 extraordinary custom of flattening the foreheads of infants at a 

 very early age existed also in Europe, — in the old as well as in 

 the new continent ; or that a migration had taken place from 

 one country to the other, an occurrence still more improbable. 

 However this may be, besides the additional confirmation which 

 M. d'Orbigny's observations have given of this singularity in the 

 crania of the ancient Peruvians, he has put us in possession of 

 the skulls themselves, of which previously we had only models. 



In the class of Mammifera, science as well as our own collec- 

 tions owes important additions to M. d'Orbigny's travels, and 

 that in every order except the Pachydermata. 



Thus, in the order Quadrumana, we have observed a new 

 species of monkey, allied to Saimiri {Callithrix Boliviensis, 

 d'Orb.), distinguished by its long tail, the black colour of its 

 head, and the yellow tinge of its arms : a beautiful series of the 

 howling monkey, which will enable us to complete the history 

 of that remarkable species : a new species of doiiroiicouli, a ge- 

 nus so incompletely established by Humboldt, that Illiger 

 thought he might give it the distinctive name of Aotus, that is, 

 without ears, although it is one of its characters to have these 

 organs larger than the other monkeys : and a fine species of 

 ouistlii without rings on the tail. 



As our traveller had an opportunity of seeing for a long time 

 a great number of difl'erent species of monkeys, he has been 

 enabled to rectify some mistakes in their natural history ; thus 

 he affirms that the species never intermingle, and that all the in- 

 dividuals of the same species hve exclusively together. He 

 could also assign the exact limits of their distribution in South 



