PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



January 11, 1859. 

 Dr. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



The following papers were read : — 



i. On the Gorilla (Troglodytes gorilla, Sav.)* 

 By Prof. Owen, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., &c. 



Before referring to earlier indications of the truly extraordinary 

 animal of which an entire specimen has now been obtained, — indications 

 scarcely more instructive or convincing to the naturalist than those 

 afloat on the Unicorn or Succatyro, — the author proceeded briefly to 

 recapitulate the steps which led to the determination and full know- 

 ledge of the great anthropoid Ape of Africa called Troglodytes 

 gorilla. 



The first authentic information he had received of its existence 

 was by a letter from Dr. Savage, dated ' Gaboon River, West Africa/ 

 April 24, 1847, inclosing a sketch of the cranium, and requesting 

 that the results of Prof. Owen's comparison might be communicated 

 to him. That letter and those results are given in the ' Proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society ' for February 22, 1848; together with 

 the description of three skulls, two of male and one of a female, 

 which had been transmitted from the Gaboon to England, and 

 which established the distinction of the species (Troglodytes gorilla) 

 from the Chimpanzee (Troglodytes niger)f. 



The skulls obtained by Dr. Savage, at the Gaboon, were taken by 

 him to Boston, U. S., and were described by the Doctor and Prof. 

 Wyman, in the * Journal of the Natural History Society of Boston,' 



* This paper will be printed in the ' Transactions,' illustrated with several 

 platen. 



t 'Transactions of the Zool. Soc.' vol. iii., p. 381, pis. 58-63. 

 No. 384. — Proceedings of the Zoological Society. 



