Dr. J. Grant on the Anatomy of an Orang Outang. 91 



mulonj should give way to the prior claim of that of Diabasis proposed 

 by M. Desraarest. It is to be feared, however, that in such a case the 

 weight of M. Cuvier's authority will bear down all opposition, and that 

 even the principles of nomenclature, if he persists in retaining the ap- 

 pellation he has proposed, will in vain be urged against one who has 



engaged in his favour the gratitude of every ichthyologist. 



E. T. B. 



Art, XIX. Post Mortem Examination of a Female Orang 

 Outang. In a Letter addressed by J. Grant, M.D., to the 

 Secretary of the Zoological Society. 



Sir, 



In the latter part of the year 1 828, an Orang Outang that passed for 

 a female and was supposed to be about three years of age, was pre- 

 sented to Mr. Swinton, of Calcutta, fehe was sent from Singapore, where 

 she had lived for some time, and was, in all probability, a native of 

 Borneo. 



She was of a mild, docile, and melancholy disposition, and had been 

 taught to vralk in the erect posture, which she was very fond of assum- 

 ing of her own accord. 



Although reputed a female, some doubts arose respecting the sex of tlie 

 animal. At length, after as careful an examination as the restlessness 

 and timidity of the creature would permit of, the great probability of her 

 being a female was generally concurred in. 



There was no appearance of either vidva or labia, and at the first 

 glance it was not surprising that the animal should be by some mistaken 

 for a male, for a small flaccid joe7u,9-like body, about an inch in length, 

 was visible under the pubes. This being found imperforate, and devoid 

 of any appearance of scrotum, or testes, was pronounced a clitoris. On 

 raising it, or pushing it to one side, a small aperture was observed near 

 its root, capable of admitting the end of a crow-quill, and through 

 which the urine passed, but whether this aperture was the urethra itself, 

 or a common pass^e behind which was the proper urethra and vagina, 



