THE EDINBURGH 



JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



AND OF 



THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 



AUGUST, 1838. 



ZOOLOGY. 



DESCRSPTIOX OF THE PLATE. THE BABOONS AND MANDRILLS. 



The Baboons, or Cynocephali, are generally larj^e and ferocious species of Monkeys, 

 having eheeli-pouches, callosities on the hips, an elongated and truncate muzzle, 

 and a tail varying in length, but usually rather long. The only species here repre- 

 sented is, 



Fig. I. The Little Baboon (Cynocephnhis Babnuin). A variety of a more 

 uniform green colour, with the face dusky. It inhabits Western Africa. 



The Mandrills have the muzzle more elongated than any other species of this fa- 

 mily. Its extremity is truncate, as in the Baboons, the nostrils being terminal ; their 

 tail is extremely short and erect ; and they have callosities behind. In character 

 they are similar to the Baboons, being ferocious, irritable, and mahcious. They are all 

 natives of Africa, 



Fig. 2. The Great Mandrill (Papio Maimon). M.ile. The adult m.iles of 

 this species are of a greyish-brown colour above ; white beneath ; their call isilios blue, 

 as is the face, the latt.T being obliquely banded with white, and the extremity of the 

 muzzle more or less tinged with red. The hair on the head is elongated, that of the 

 cheeks being yellowish-brown, and there is a short yellowi-ih beard on the chin. It 

 is said to attain nearly the size of a Man, and to be an object of dread to the Negroes 

 on account of its ferocity. 



Fig. 3. The Great Mandrill. Young. 



Fig. 4. The Drill (P. leucnphans). Male. This species is very similar to the 

 former, being about the same size, greyish-brown, tinged with green above, white 

 lieneath, but the face black. It inhabits Guinea and the Gold Coast. ^ 



Fig. 5. The Drill. Female. 



Fig. 6. The Drill. Young. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATE THE PIGEONS. 



The Pigeons, which w^re included by Linnasus in the single genus Columba, have 

 recently been arranged under several genera, and by some ornithologists have even 

 been formed into a separate order. The position of this group has been a subject of 

 much dispute, some referring it to the Gallinaceous order, others to the Passerine, to 

 both of which it in fact presents atfinities. Cuvier places the Pigeons at the end of 

 the Gallinaceous Birds, and considers them as forming only a single genus, which may 

 be divided into three subgenera : the Cohnnbi-Gallincc ; CoIumbtE, or common Pi- 

 geons, including Turtles ; and the Vinayines, or thick-billed Pigeons. The species 

 represented in this plate belong to the .second of these subgenera. 



Fig. 1. The Speckled Pigeon (^Columba scriptu), having the sides of the 

 head marked with dusky bands on a whitish-ground, the upper parts brown, the inner 

 secondaries and their coverts b'onzed, is a native of New Holland. 



Fig. 2. The Mantled Pigeon (C. lacernnlata), with the head and lower parts 

 bluish-grey, the throat yellow, the abdominal feathers and lower tail-coverts bright- 

 red, occurs in Java. 



Fig. 3. The Grey-headed Pigeon (C caphtratn). The upper part of the head 

 ash-grey, the throat cream-coloured, the hind neck and back light-red, Java. 



Fig. 4. The Double-crested Pigeon (C dilophu)^ so named on account 

 of the disposition of the eh.ngated feathers on its head, of which the posterior are 

 crimson, is from New Holland. 



Fig. 3. IXlE Red-collared Pigeon {C. hnmeralis^i with a half-collar of red 

 on the hind neck, the upper parts light-brown, the tail graduated. New Holland. 



Dentition of the Walrus — Individuals of this remarkable animal present so 

 great differences in the number of their teeth, some of which are always wanting in 

 adults, that authors have given different statements on the subject, some representing 

 it as having four, others as five grinders, on each side in either jaw, and all being in 

 error as to the incisors. '* The Morses," says Cuvier, " resemble the Seals in their 

 limbs and the general form of the body, but differ much in the head and teeth. Their 

 39 



lower jaw has no incisors or canine teeth. The grinders have all the form of short 

 and obliquely truncated cylinders. There are four on each side above and below ; 

 but at a certain age, two of the upper fall out. Between the two canine teeth are 

 moreover two incisors resembling the grinders, and which most authors have not re- 

 cognised as incisors, although thev are inserted in the intermaxillary bone ; and bp- 

 tween them are, in young individuals, two others which are small and pointed. 



Having recently examined a number of skulls, I have come to a different conclusion. 

 The normal dentition of this animal is shown by the skull of a young individual in the 

 Museum of the Edinburgh College of Surgeons. In the upper jaw there are on each 

 side three incisors, the lirst or inner extremely small, the second a little larger, the 

 third or outer disproportionately large, being equal to the largest grinders. J he 

 socket of this toolh is placed in the intermaxillary bone, but, towards its mouth, is 

 partly formed by the maxillary. The small incisors have deep conical sockets. The 

 canine tooth is displaced, being thrust outwards, and of enormous 

 size, the lateral incisor is on the level of its anterior margin, and 

 the first grinder is opposite its middle. There are five grinders, 

 having conical blunt sockets, and consequently single roots , the first 

 smaller than the lateral incisor, the second and third largest, the 

 fourth much smaller, the fifth very small ; all shortly conical and 

 blunt, with enamel only at the tip. The canine tooth is also at first 

 enamelled at the end. In the lower jaw are two very small incisors 

 on each side ; the canine tooth is wanting ; five grinders, with single 

 conical compressed roots, and short compressed conical crowns, 

 enamelled at the point ; the first, second, and third nearly equal, 

 but the latter a little larL'er, the fourth much smaller, the fifth very 

 small. The tusks are compressed, conical, directed downwards, a 

 111 tie curved backwards, from one to two feet long, somewhat 

 diverging, but when very long converging again towards the point. 

 In old individuals the incisors are obliterlted, excepting the lateral 

 pair in the upper Jaw. The fifth grinders in both jaws are also 

 obliteiated. although not alv ay«, and somelimej, the fourth in one 

 or both. One of the most rem.irkable circumstances with regard to 

 the teeth of this animal is, that although the grinders are so placed as to m«t at the 

 points only, the outer surface of the lower not falling within the line of the outer so 

 as to meet the inner surface, nor the reverse, in any possible ca.e, yet the upper and 

 lower grinders are always worn so as to present an oblique flattened surface on their 

 inner side, which of course cannot he produced by the rubbin* of the teeth against 

 each other. Indeed, the jaw is incapable of lateral motion on account ol the form of 

 its articulation, and the manner in which it is jammed m between the tusks. The 

 food of the Walrus is said by some to consist of fuci, by others of fish, or ot both ; 

 but the mastication of neither seems capable ot producing the peculiar kind «; flatten- 

 ing described. 



A Honey Buzzard killed in Scotland — Having been permitted, through the 

 kindness of Mr Carfrae, to examine a recently killed individual of the Honey Buz- 

 zard or Pern, Pernis apivonis, a species of which I have seen only one other speci- 

 men obtained in Scotland, which was shot at Druralanrig, and is now in the Museum 

 of the University of Edinburgh, I embrace this opportunity of presenting a full descrip- 

 tion of it. This bird, a male, and apparently an old individual, is of a rather slender, 

 elongated form, with the body moderately full, the neck of ordinary length or rather 

 short, the head ovato-oblong. The bill, although slender compared with that of other 

 birds of this order, is rather stout ; the aperture of the mouth is wide, and extends to 

 beneath the anterior angle of the eye ; the cere large ; the upper mandible with its 

 outline as far as the ed^e of the cere convexo-declinate, then curved in the third of a 

 circle, the sides convex, the edges soft to beneath the anterior angle of the nostrils, 

 then haid, direct, and sharp, the tip slender, descending, acute; the lower mandible 

 comparatively small, with the back broad, the sides rounded, the edges as in the upper, 

 the tip rounded. The gape-line is arched from the base. Nostrils oblongo-linear, 

 lar"e, and oblique. Upper mandible a little concave, lower broadly channelled. 



