296 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



deration which gives some support to such a classification. 

 The occiput is elevated at its point and forms a quadrilateral 

 protuberance very large and thick, where three bony crests 

 are produced, not less apparent nor less solid than those of 

 the Lion. Two of these crests are considerably elevated 

 and extend laterally to the auricular foramina. Another 

 extends across the vertex, and then assumes a bifurcal form, 

 as in the Lion, above the forehead in two lateral branches, 

 which proceed as far as the external side of the upper edge 

 of the orbits. These little crests are decisively marked 

 in the Simia of Wurmb, and form an equilateral triangle 

 with the upper edge of the orbitary foramina. But these 

 characters so extraordinary in themselves, astonish us still 

 more by their combination with others equally strange. The 

 head is formed like the half of a pyramid, and the auricular 

 foramina are placed so considerably above the palatine 

 bones, that a line let down from the former to the internal 

 edge of the ossa palatina, would form with an horizontal 

 line an angle of 25°." 



According to these considerations, Lacepede has made a 

 separate genus of the Simia of Wurmb, which he has named 

 Pongo, the characters of which, independently of those 

 common to all the Simian, are facial angles of 30°. aba- 

 joues, posterior callosities and want of tail. As yet we 

 know but one species, the Pongo of Borneo. 



The greater or less facility possessed by any animal for 

 the biped motion, depends mainly on the position of the 

 occipital foramen. In consequence of its posterior situa- 

 tion in the Pongo, Geoffroi considers that the natural mo- 

 tion of this animal must be quadrupedal. He adds, how- 

 ever, some reflections tending to invalidate this opinion, 

 and though we do not entirely coincide in his conclusions, 

 we think his speculations on this point may not prove un- 

 interesting to our readers. 



" Before," says this experimental zoologist, " we venture 

 to affirm that the Simia of Wurmb, cannot, according to 



