QUADRUMANA. 311 



far advanced that the great problem of the day is, ' How far 

 back in time are we justified in carrying the human race as 

 contemporary with the extinct mammalia of the quaternary 

 period?' The two subjects are intimately connected by 

 many aspects, and the tendency of inquiry at the present 

 time is to indicate that they will be still more closely con- 

 nected by future research. The problem will doubtless be 

 worked out with philosophic caution and scrupulous accuracy; 

 but a lesson of prudence may be learnt from the quadrumanous 

 past in reference to the spurious or unreliable evidence which 

 the stimulus of a newly started and exciting subject is certain 

 to bring forth. 



I will now call attention to the historical correction. 



In 1836, fossil Quadrumana were discovered in the Sewalik 

 hills in India. 



In February, 1837, Sir Charles LyeU, then president, in 

 Ms anniversary address to the Geological Society, used the 

 following terms with reference to the award of the Wollaston 

 medals : ' Dr. Eoyle has permitted me to read part of their 

 (Captain Cautley's and Dr. Falconer's) correspondence with 

 him, when they were exploring the Sewalik mountains, and 

 I can bear witness to their extraordinary energy and perse- 

 verance,' &c. {op. cit. p. 35). Dr. Eoyle was then one of the 

 secretaries of the Geological Society ; and on the 3rd May of 

 the same year (1837), the following appears on the proceed- 

 ings of the Society : — Read : ' An extract of a letter, dated 

 Suharunpoor, 18th November, 1836, from Captain Cautley to 

 Dr. Eoyle, was next read, permitting the announcement, 

 which had long been communicated to the latter, of the finding 

 of the remains of a quadrumanous animal in the Sewalik 

 hills, or Sub-Himalayan range of mountains. An astragalus 

 was first found, but latterly a nearly perfect head, with one 

 side of the molars and one orbit nearly complete.' — Proceed- 

 ings, p. 644). 



On the 14th June, 1837, a memoir by Captain Cautley and 

 Dr. Falconer, entitled, ' On Eemains of a Fossil Monkey, from 

 the tertiary strata of the Sewalik hills,' was read to the 

 Geological Society. It bears date, Suharunpoor, 24th Nov., 

 1836, and it appeared in the 6th volume, second series, of the 

 ' Geological Transactions,' carrying that date. The original 

 fossil astragalus which it describes, together with the cor- 

 responding bone of the living Semnopithecus entellus, was 

 transmitted along with the memoir; and both are now 

 extant in the Museum of the Society.' 



' Sir Proby Cautley informs me that I was despatched, Dr. Falconer always 

 for many months before this paper | carried this astragalus in his pocket, 



