67 



dissipated by the existence of a living specimen brought from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, according in every particular with Le Vail- 

 lant's description of the Oricou, and liaving the remarkable folds of 

 skin which pas^^ up the sides ol the neck and round the ears developed 

 even to a greater extent than is represented in his figure. A specimen 

 of the Pondichery Vulture ( Vultur Ponticerianus, Daud.), the only 

 other species ni which the naked neck ha>on each side a longitudi- 

 nal fold of skin, was laid on the table : and it was pointed out that 

 in this bird the fold of .-kin tenninates an inch below the opening 

 of the ear. while in the Sociable Vulture it passes upwards and sur- 

 rounds the upper part of the ear; aufl that the breH&tftalhers of 

 the Pondichery Vulture are short and rounded, while those of the 

 Sociable Vulture are very long and somewhat sabre-shaped. 



Mr. Gray stated, that since M. Huppel's Monograph was written, 

 he had apprised that scientific traveller, in answer lo his previous 

 inquiries on the subject, that a specimen of another vulture rejected 

 by him as a doubtful species (the Vidtur Angotensis, Lath.) exists 

 in the British .Museum, to which it was presented on the return of 

 the unfortunate expedition up the river Congo. 



Mr. Owen resumed the reading of his Memoir on the Anatomy of 

 the Orang Utan (.Simia Sntyrus, L.), portions of which had been 

 communicated by him to the v onimittee at several of its previous 

 Meetings. On this occasion he limited himself to the myology of 

 the lower extremities. 



He commenced by remarking, that no anatomist can contemplate 

 the lower extremity of a oiuadrumanous aninial, or experience the 

 degree of mobility o^ which the several parts of it are susceptible in 

 the living or undissected body, without being prepared to find cor- 

 responding modifications of the muscular system and consequent de- 

 viations from the structure of these parts ;is they exist in man. It is 

 accordingly in this part of the body that the most remarkable diffe- 

 rences in the forms, proportions, and attachments of the muscles are 

 found to obtain between the ape and the human subject ; and it will 

 not therefore be matter of surprise to find, that in the Orang Utan, 

 whose inferior extremities, from their shortness and flexibility, are 

 so well adapted to the various agile movements of a climber, there 

 exists a high degree of this deviation from the human structure, 

 and an approximation, in some n>easure symmetrical, to the arrange- 

 ment of the moving powers in the upper extremity. Variations of 

 more or less consequence occur, indeed, so frequently as to render 

 it necessary to consider the whole of the muscles seriatim; and 

 each of them was accordingly described separately as regarded 

 its attachments, fomi, and relative position. I liese details are 

 necessarily abridged in the present abstract, except as regards 

 the muscles of the hinder hands, which require a developed notice 

 to render their structure intelligible. 



The glutceus magnus is a thin narrow muscle, inserted lower down 

 the tliigh bone, and having a more posterior origin than in man : 

 its extent of action is consequently increased, though its strength 



