500 Capt. Cautley and Dr. Falconer 



rent, and he still escape" and feed on his wonted fruits, undisturbed by the de- 

 struction 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 Hyana, the Chacal, and the Wolf. So 

 speedily does this occur, that in India, where Monkeys occupy, in large socie- 

 ties, 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 Sevvalik Hills exhibit, we 

 were early led to anticipate that some trace of quadrumanous 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 specimen, 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 any thing less character- 

 istic. That chance has since fallen to our fellow-labourers in the pursuit, 

 Messrs. Baker and Durand, of the Bengal Engineers, who have lately disco- 

 vered a specimen, consisting of a considerable portion of the face, and the 

 whole series of molars of one side, of a quadrumanous animal belonging to a 

 much larger species than the bone we found. 



Our fossil is the specimen which accompanies this communication. It is 

 the astragalus of a right hind leg. It is completely mineralized, having a 

 specific gravity of about 28, 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 certain as if the entire skeleton 

 were before us. The very shallow excavation of the superior surface (a) ("see 

 wood-cut] for the pulley-like articulation with the tibia; the form and extent 

 of the lateral articulating surfaces (b, c) 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 off 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 quadrumanous 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 agrees with the corresponding bone in existing species of Quadrumana. It 

 closely resembles, in size and general form, the astragalus of the Semnopi- 

 thecus Entellus, which we send along with the fossil for comparison. 



