Simiarum et Vespertilionum Brasili. Species Novk. 121 



from the determinate forms which they retain in the respective 

 species ; but this is readily to be accounted for as depending oa 

 the shape of the cavities in which they are deposited, and the 

 markings on their surfaces as imprinted by the nervous filaments 

 surrounding them. We cannot but regret that we are restricted 

 from entering into the very curious and satisfactory details that 

 are given in illustration of this article ; the same cause will also 

 confine our notice of the only remaining one, " On a singular 

 alteration of certain human heads," by G. Cuvier. The subject 

 of this latter is however rather geological than zoological, refer- 

 ring to certain monstrously enlarged crania, which have been re- 

 peatedly adduced as proving the existence of a distinct antediluvian 

 race of men. In reply to this assumption M. Cuvier distinctly 

 establishes, that one of the crania in question is recent ; that the 

 whole which he has seen belong to children who had not yet 

 obtained their permanent teeth ; and that they are the reiult of a 

 disease which, fortunately for humanity, is exceedingly rare. 



Simiarum et Vespertilionum Brasiliensium Species Novce ; ou 

 Histoire Naturelle des Singes Sfc. Publiee par Jean de Spix. 

 Munich, 1823. Atlas folio, pp. viii andl^. tab. xxxviii. 

 A more striking illustration of the limited extent of our ac- 

 quaintance with the treasures of nature can scarcely be adduced, 

 than that which is exhibited by the present splendid and valuable 

 publication. That two travelling naturalists, wandering through 

 the interior of a single country, during the space of little more 

 than three years, should collect upwards of thirty animals, entirely 

 new to science, in a group of primary importance, would appear 

 extraordinary ; but it becomes still more so when we reflect that 

 this new acquisition is nearly equal in number to the one half of 

 those which were previously known. AVhat may be the extent of 

 the collection in the other families of Mammalia, it is at present 

 impossible to ascertain, but if this noble commencement is to be 

 assumed as a specimen of the whole, it must indeed be immense, 

 and almost unlimited in richness and extent; and natural history 

 \yill have to enumerate among its most important acquisitions the 



