634 PROF. FLOWER ON THE SKULL OF A CHIMPANZEE. [NoV. 14, 



The following letter, addressed to the Secretary by Mr. E. L. 



Layard, F.Z.S., was read : — 



■' " Noumea, Aug. 22, 1882. 



"Sir, — In a 'Note on the genera Schwnicola and Catriscus' 

 (P. Z. S.' 1882, pp. 919 & 920), Mr. Sharpe alludes to a skin in the 

 British Museum of Sckcenicola platyura, obtained ' from Mr. Cuming, 

 who received it doubtless from one of his correspondents, perhaps 

 Mr. Thwaites or Mr. Layard.' 



" It will narrow the question if I state that Mr. Cuming never re- 

 ceived a single specimen of any bird whatsoever from me. We ex- 

 chano-ed shells, but never had any communication respecting birds. 

 If Mr. Cuming got the skin in question from Mr. Thwaites, the latter 

 probably procured it in the mountainous regions of the central 

 province (Kandy), where he lived. I have no recollection of the 

 bird myself." 



Professor Jeffrey Bell exhibited some examples of Limnmts 

 truncatulus, which had been given him by Mr. A. P. Thomas^ who 

 has lately slaown that that species is the chief host of the larva of 

 the liver-fluke. 



Mr. H. E. Dresser exhibited the type specimens of Melittophagus 

 loehmi, Reichenow (J. f. O. 1882, p. 233), and of M crops dresseri, 

 Shelley (P. Z. S. 1882, p. 302), and showed that these birds are speci- 

 fically identical. The type of Melittophagus boehmi lacked the central 

 elongated rectrices, and was therefore placed in the genus Melitto- 

 phagus, whereas, as would be seen by the more perfect specimen 

 described by Capt. Shelley, this bird was a true Merops. 



Professor Flower exhibited the skull of a young Chimpanzee, 

 which had been sent to him from the Soudan by Dr. Emin Bey. 

 The exact locality in which the animal was taken was not given ; 

 but it was stated to have lived for some weeks in Dr. Emin Bey's 

 house at Lado. 



Prof. Flower made the following remarks on the skull : — 

 This skull has the ordinary milk-dentition complete, except that 

 the lower canines are not fully exserted. The first true molars are 

 altogether concealed within the alveoli. Although the lower part 

 of the face, the base of the skull, and the teeth precisely resemble 

 those of Chimpanzees of corresponding age from the west coast of 

 Africa, the upper part of the cranium presents a most striking 

 difi'erence, as seen in the accompanying outline (p. 635). The 

 frontal region, instead of receding at a gentle slope from the 

 supraorbital ridge, rises far more vertically, continuing the fine of the 

 face upwards. From the occiput the hinder part of the cranium 

 slopes up almost in a straight line towards the forehead, so that the 

 u])i)er contour, instead of forming a nearly even low arch with its 

 hio^hest part about the centre, or over the external auditory meatus, 

 1 Journ. E. Agricult. Soc. xviii. p. 452 (1882). 



