1861.] DR, A. GTJNTHER ON MR. HODGSOn's COLLFXTIONS. 213 



to enhance the danger of their chase, I am induced to believe that 

 all the tailless long-armed Apes, not excepting the Gorilla, are tree- 

 living, fruit-eating animals, living where beasts of prey are not to be 

 found, or out of their reach, if they are found together in the same 

 locality ; so that there is no reason for them to be fierce or vicious, 

 especially as the succulent nature of their food does not render it 

 necessary that they should come to the earth — on which they always 

 walk with difficulty — to obtain fluid. 



At the same time I have no doubt they sometimes fight among 

 themselves for their mates, and would defend themselves, or perhaps 

 attack any animal — the larger kinds even man — if brought to bay, 

 and that they would use all their force and cunning to escape from 

 confinement, and thus try to recover their liberty ; but every animal, 

 even the most docile and herbivorous, as the deer, antelope, &c., will 

 do this, and might therefore as well be called vicious and untame- 

 able. 



They are most, if not all, of them provided with very loud voices ; 

 and the Siamang is provided with large guttural sacs, which have been 

 supposed to facilitate the production of these sounds ; but as M. Du- 

 vaucel did not find them in the ' Wou-Wou,' which also emits a 

 fearfully loud voice, he infers that the bags do not affect the sound. 

 Some of the American Monkeys are called Howlers on account of the 

 sounds they emit, which in these animals are said to be produced by 

 a peculiarity in the form of the larynx. 



The Ourang and Siamang are seldom found far from the sea, and 

 I have been informed by the Gaboon traders that all the Gorillas 

 they have seen have been taken near the coast, 



A friend has informed me that these observations as to the habits 

 of the Gorilla are confirmed by his examination of the skins and 

 skeletons now being exhibited in Whitehall Place ; he says they 

 seem to have been wounded when retreating, and not attacking. It 

 is true that they are represented in M. Du Chaillu's book as ad- 

 vancing, and are said to always fall on their faces, but in the plates 

 they are represented as lying on their backs. 



3. List of the Cold-Blooded Vertebrata collected by B. 

 H. Hodgson, Esq., in Nepal. By Dr. Albert Gunther. 



At the request of Mr. Hodgson I have examined the whole of the 

 collections of specimens and drawings of Reptiles and Fishes which 

 he has at various times presented to the British Museum. The 

 new species of Reptiles contained therein have been already de- 

 scribed by myself, so that it is unnecessary to repeat a description of 

 them. Hamilton and M'^Clelland are the only authors who have 

 made original inquiries into the freshwater fishes of Nepal ; and it is 

 evident, from a comparison of Mr. Hodgson's collections with the 

 information drawn from the works of these authors, that the streams 

 and rivers of Nepal must be inhabited by a wonderful variety of 

 generic and specific forms : M'^Clelland enumerating many which 



