QUADRUMANA. 293 



nant swamp — wliile he would remain secure. The tree on 

 which he was perched might totter, and yield to the under- 

 mining current, and he still escape and feed on his wonted 

 fruits, undisturbed by the destruction around. When the 

 debt of nature comes to be paid, his carcase falls to the 

 ground, and immediately becomes the prey of the numerous 

 predaceous scavengers of torrid regions, the Hysena, the 

 Chacal, and the Wolf. So speedily does this occur, that in 

 India, where Monkeys occupy, in large societies, mango groves 

 around villages, unmolested and cherished by man, the traces 

 of casualties among them are so rarely seen, that the simple 

 Hindoo believes that they bury their dead by night. 



When the ancient races of India began to open upon us in 

 the new forms and the exuberant variety which the fossils of 

 the Sewalik hills exhibit, we were early led to anticipate that 

 some trace of quadrvmianous animals would soon be met with 

 to perfect a series, which would be incomplete without them. 

 Several months ago we became possessed of a solitary speci- 

 men, which put the matter, in our own minds, beyond all doubt. 

 We deferred making it public, however, in the hope of soon 

 finding specimens of the cranium and teeth ; being unwilling 

 to rest the announcement on anything less characteristic. 

 That chance has since fallen to our fellow-labourers in the 

 pursuit, Messrs. Baker and Durand, of the Bengal Engineers, 

 who have lately discovered a specimen, consisting of a con- 

 siderable portion of the face, and the whole series of molars 

 of one side, of a quadrumanous animal belonguag to a much 

 larger species than the bone we found. 



Our fossil is the specimen which accompanies this commu- 

 nication. It is the astragalus of a right hind leg. It is 

 completely mineralized, havmg a specific gravity of about 2-8, 

 and it appears to be impregnated with hydrate of iron. 

 Although but a solitary bone of the foot, the relations of 

 structure are so fixed that the identity of the fossil is as cer- 

 tain as if the entire skeleton were before us. The very shallow 

 excavation of the superior surface (a in figs, 6 and 7) for the 

 puUey-like articulation with the tibia ; the form and extent of 

 the lateral articulating surfaces (b, c, figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9) for the 

 external and internal malleoli ; the considerable elongation of 

 the apophysis for the head and neck of the bone (g, h) ; the 

 slight obliquity with which it is sent oS from the body ; and 

 the diagonal direction and form of the principal articulating 

 surface (d) with the calcaneum, are characters which, taken 

 in conjunction, incontestably prove that the fossil is a quad- 

 rumanous astragalus. It would be needless, therefore, to 

 dwell on the points of difference between it and the astragali 

 of those orders of Mammalia which have an allied form. It 

 is only requisite to ascertain how it agTces vdth the corres- 



