70 



July 11th, 1837. 

 William Yarrell, Esq., in the Chair. 



A letter was read from Mr. Hugh Cuming, Corresponding Mem- 

 ber, dated Manilla, December 24th, 1836, addressed to the late Se- 

 cretary, E. T. Bennett, Esq. 



Mr. Cuming states in this letter that he is actively engaged in 

 his favourite pursuit, that of collecting objects in various deport- 

 ments of natural history, and he speaks very highly of the assistance 

 aflForded him by the public authorities at Manilla in prosecuting his 

 researches. This letter vras accompanied by a large box of skins of 

 birds and quadrupeds, part of vi^hich vfere a donation to the Society. 



A letter vv^as read from Keith Edvi^ard Abbott, Esq., Correspond- 

 ing Member, dated Erzeroum, May 12, 1837, stating that he had 

 dispatched a box of bird-skins for the Society. 



Mr. Martin then laid before the meeting the following observa- 

 tions on the Proboscis Monkey, or ' Guenon d. long nez.' (Simia Na- 

 sttlis.) 



The genus Nasalis, of which the " Guenon a long nez" of BufFon, 

 (suppl. vii.,) or Proboscis Monkey of Shaw is the type, was founded 

 by Geoffrey St. Hilaire in his ' Tableau des Quadrumanes,' published 

 in the ' Annales du Museum d'Histoire NatureUe' for 1812. In this 

 outline of the Simiadee, the genera Semnopithecus and Cercopithecus 

 are blended together under the latter title ; but from this group are 

 excluded two monkeys, the Douc, constituting the type of the genua 

 Pygathrix {Lasiopygu, 111.) and the "guenon ^ long nez". With 

 respect to the genus Pygathrix or Lasiopyga, founded upon the al- 

 leged want of callosities, most naturalists I believe, (aware of the 

 error committed both by Geoffroy and lUiger, in describing from an 

 imperfect skin,) have regarded it as merging into the genus Semno- 

 pithecus, at least provisionally, until the internal anatomy of its as- 

 sumed representative be known. 



The characters of the genus Nasalis, formed for the reception of 

 the " Guenon d, long nez," (Simia Nasica, Schreb. Cercopithecus lar- 

 vatus, Wurmb,) are laid down as follows : 



"Muzzle short, forehead projecting, but little elevated ; facial an- 

 gle 50° ; nose prominent, and extremely elongated ; ears small and 

 round ; body stout ; cheek-pouches, anterior hands, with four long 

 fingers, and a short thumb, ending where the index finger begins ; 

 posterior hands very large, with fingers stout, especially the thumb ; 

 callosities large ; tail longer than the body." 



At a subsequent period, however, in his ' Cours de I'Histoire Na- 

 tureUe,' published 1828, Geoffroy, adopting the genus Semnopithecus, 

 established by Fred. Cuvier, places the " Guenon a long nez," within 



