1847.] Association of Geologists and JYatitralists. 205 



erect without supporting the trunk in some way by the hands. 

 He named it Troglodytes goryllus. It inhabits Guinea. It is five 

 feet high, and covered with coarse black hair, which becomes 

 gray in the old animal. Head — the face is wide, the cranium 

 small, the eyes large; in the course of the sagittal suture, there is 

 a high crest of hair, which meets another going behind from one 

 ear to the other; as it moves the scalp freely, these hairy crests 

 point forward when the animal is enraged, giving him a very fe- 

 rocious appearance. The shoulders are very broad, the arms long, 

 the hands large, the thumb very large, in which it differs from 

 the Chimpanze; its gait is rolling, the legs being swung forward 

 between the arms. They live in bands; one male in every band 

 of females. Their dwellings are merely sticks laid from one tree 

 to another, affording no shelter, and these are only used at night. 

 They are very ferocious, and less intelligent than the chimpanze; 

 they live on fruit, branches of trees, &c. 



Afternoon Session — Thursday, 23d. 

 Prof Bailey exhibited some fossils from New Mexico. On the 

 eastern side of the Rocky mountains, there is coal of a recent 

 epoch, containing leaves of dicotyledonous plants — on the west 

 side is a cretaceous deposit, upheaved since that period. 



On the geographical distribution of animals along the coast of 

 JYew England, by Prof Jlgassiz. 



The most difficult question to settle here is, w^here the different 

 animals were created; this is difficult from the nature of the data, 

 influenced by the locomotive powers of animals, external circum- 

 stances, and the agency of man. The general result of such in- 

 vestigations is that the animals differ indifferent localities; none, 

 except domestic animals, are distributed generally, or universally, 

 over the earth's surface. This difference is greatest at the equa- 

 tor, while at the poles the species are identical; the species of 

 temperate Europe and America are analogous; our wild carnivo- 

 ra and herbivora have originated here, and were not derived from 

 Europe. The difficulty of deriving animals from distant locali- 

 ties, is exemplified in the fresh water fishes, which die if their 

 external circumstances be changed to any great extent; those 

 fishes, considered identical in Europe and America, will be found 

 different; hence we may conclude that similar distant species 

 were created where they are found. From the researches of the 

 United States exploring expedition, we know that each group of 

 islands of the Pacific has its peculiar and distinct species of land 

 shells, which must have originated on the' spot. As a general 



