JauuaiT ^Sth. 1S40. 



William Yarrtll, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Mr. Ogiljjy resumed the reading of his ' Monograph of the Hollow- 

 horned Ruminants.' The following is an ahstract of this paper : — 

 " In revising the history of the Riiminanda," says Mr. Ogilby, 

 " the zoologist who, like myself, has made a special study of these 

 animals, must be forcibly struck v-ith the confusion of synonymes, the 

 carelessness and inaccuracy of description, the vagne and indefinite 

 limits of the generic and subgeneric groups, the trivial and confess- 

 edly empirical principles of classification, and, as a consequence, the 

 great number of nominal species, and the general disorder which 

 still prevail in this department of Mammalogy." He proceeds to 

 show that the views of the modem writers on this subject are no 

 more jihilosophical than those of their predecessors, and that as re- 

 gards their generic distribution, the Uuminantia remain at present 

 in very nearly the same state as that in which Ray left them a hun- 

 dred and fifty years back. 



The history of tlie classification of this group next comes under 

 the consideration of the author, and the views of the various ^v^iters 

 are given and commented upon, commencing with the publication of 

 the ' Synopsis Methodica' of Ray, published in 1693. The genera 

 Ovinum, Bovinum, and Caprinuin, established by that author, Mr. 

 Ogilby regards as strictly natural groups, but the characters by which 

 thev are distinguished, derived principally from the curvature of the 

 horns, the existence of a beard or dewlap, the number of teats, and 

 the woolly or hairy nature of the covering, he considers trivial, ai'bi- 

 trary, and uninfluential. 



The ' Systema Natura;' is next considered ; and although arbitrary 

 and empirical, the generic definitions of Linnseus, (the author of the 

 paper states,) possess all the logical correctness and simplicity which 

 so peculiarly characterize the genius of that great man. Though 

 neither natural nor scientific, his distribution was, at all events, ex- 

 clusive and diagnostic, in reference to the small number of Rumi- 

 nants then known. But whilst the zoology of the Runiiiiantia re- 

 mained thus almost stationaiy in the hands of Linnaeus, it was 

 making rapid and brilliant progress under the auspices of his great 

 rival and cotemporaiy. Button : even as early as the year 1764, two 

 years before the publication of the l'2th edition of the ' Systema Na- 

 turre,' the French philosopher had described new forms, and indicated 

 important relations among the hollow-homed Ruminants. The ai'- 

 ticle ' Gazelles,' contained in the 12th volume of his great work, was 

 the most important addition which had been made to the generic 

 distribution of the Ruminants since the time of Ray, and must be 

 considered as the first monograph of the genus two years afterwards 



