PROCEEDINGS 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



January 11, 1859- 

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



The following papers were read : — 



1. On the Gorilla (Troglodytes gorilla, Sav.)* 

 By Prof. Owen, F.R,S., V.P.Z.S., &c. 



Before referring to earlier indications of the truly extraordinary 

 animal of which an entire specimen has now been obtained, — indications 

 scarcely more instructive or convincing to the naturalist than those 

 afloat on the Unicorn or Succatyro, — the author proceeded briefly to 

 recapitulate the steps which led to the determination and full know- 

 ledge of the gi'eat anthropoid Ape of Africa called Troglodytes 

 gorilla. 



The first authentic information he had received of its existence 

 was by a letter from Dr. Savage, dated ' Gaboon River, West Africa,' 

 April 24, 1847, inclosing a sketch of the cranium, and requesting 

 that the results of Prof. Owen's comparison might be communicated 

 to him. That letter and those results are given in the ' Proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society' for February 22, 1848; together with 

 the description of three skulls, two of male and one of a female, 

 which had been transmitted from the Gaboon to England, and 

 which established the distinction of the species {Troglodytes gorilla) 

 from the Chimpanzee {Troglodytes }iiger)f. 



The skulls obtained by Dr. Savage, at the Gaboon, were taken by 

 him to Boston, U. S., and were described by the Doctor and Prof. 

 Wyman, in the * Journal of the Natural History Society of Boston,' 



* This paper •will be pi'inted in the ' Transactions,' illustrated with several 

 plates. 



t 'Transactions of the Zool. Soc' vol. iii., p. 381, pis. 58-63. 



No. 384. — Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



