952 LKTTEU FROM DR. J. KIRK. [DeC. 12, 



Duvaucel. Mr. Ogilby, in his ' History of Monkeys,' when remark- 

 ing upon M. Duvaucel's adventures with the EnteUus, informs us 

 that by " Gouptipara," the name of the place where the animal was 

 shot, *' he appears to mean the city of Goalpara." On the contrary, 

 however, he appears to mean nothing of the kind ; for he distinctly 

 states that the city of Gouptipara, where he shot the animal, was a 

 holy place with many temples, and situated on the river Hooglee, 

 somewhere near Chandernagore in Lower Bengal, and therefore not 

 far from Calcutta ; whereas Goalpara is situated on the Bnrham- 

 pooter river in Assam, about 200 miles away. The fact is that Mr. 

 Ogilby, being better acquainted with menageries than with the geo- 

 graphy of India, took upon himself to alter the names of the places, 

 and by so doing gave rise to the erroneous idea that the EnteUus 

 occurs in Assam. But besides giving us the River Hooglee and 

 Chandernagore as guides to the locality, M. Duvaucel likewise 

 plainly speaks of his having been thwarted by "theBengalese," who 

 constantly scared away the monkeys ; whereas, had he alluded to 

 Goalpara, he would have called the people " Assamese." 



Hence the error in this respect appears to be entirely owing to 

 Mr. Ogilby's ignorance of the geography of the country, and to his 

 unwarrantable alteration of the name furnished by M. Duvaucel. 



The remarks uow made, founded upon long and patient research 

 into the history of the animal, will, I trust, not prove unacceptable 

 to my brother naturalists in Europe. 



December 12th, 1867. 



Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S.^ V.P., in the Chair. 



The following extract was read from a letter addressed to the Se- 

 cretary by Dr. John Kirk, C.M.Z.S., dated Zanzibar, Sept. 7th : — 



*' In the collection of animals in spirits now ready for transmis- 

 sion to England by the first opportunity, I have placed several spe- 

 cimens of the Galaffo of the island of Zanzibar ; which, I can now 

 assure you, is very different from that of the opposite coast. I have 

 kept specimens of both here : the colour, form of snout, size of ears, 

 &c. are very distinct. The species of the coast is, no doubt, G. 

 crassicaudatus, while I presume the island one is G. agisymbanus, 

 of which there are no specimens in England. 



" I am not satisfied regarding the little Antelopes of this island, 

 whether there are not two species ; the texture of the fur varies 

 much, also the size of ears ; but I have not had an opportunity of 

 comparing a sufficient number of specimens to be certain. 



" I have only three species of Bats from Zanzibar ; this is singular, 



