4 
THE MAMMALS OE EGTPT. 
to the unsettled state of that region for many years, our knowledge on this subject 
may possibly be very imperfect. Associated with this imperfect knowledge regarding 
the fauna of the Upper Nile, a like ignorance prevails as to the specific features 
of the animals which have been handed down to us as mummies. The first and, 
indeed, the only step which will yield us a correct knowledge of the monkeys 
known to the Ancient Egyptians is to institute a comparison between the osteo- 
logical features of the mummies and those of the Cercopithecidse still occurring in 
the neighbouring regions of the Bahr-el-Abiad and Bahr-el-Azrek (the two branches 
of the Nile meeting at Khartum) and of Abyssinia and Somaliland. Having 
identified a mummy satisfactorily with its existing representatives, the approximately 
accurate recognition of the figure on the monuments would follow. Egyptologists, 
unfortunately for the prosecution of a work of this kind, regard mummified 
animals as objects too precious to be unwound and to be submitted to a zoological 
examination. But in the course of time, as materials bearing on the recent fauna of 
the regions in question accumulate, and mummies lose somewhat of their treasured 
sacredness in the eyes of Egyptologists, a correct knowledge of the animals represented 
on the monuments wull be within reach. 
By permission of the Trustees of the British Museum I had the Rontgen rays 
passed through the mummies of some of the apes in the National Collection of 
Egyptian Antiquities, and consequently 1 am in a position to reproduce in this volume 
the revelations made known by these marvellous X rays, and thus to disclose details 
without disturbing the wrappings b 
The mummies selected for the radiographs unfortunately proved to be those of 
immature animals. Radiograph N®. 1 shows an undoubtedly young specimen, judging 
from the condition of the teeth and of some of the long bones ; the appearance 
resembling a coil of wire or some such substance in the pelvic region is due to 
a number of the lower ribs having fallen down, owing to the partial decomposition of 
the contents of the mummy ; the tail is clearly indicated. 
A baboon of the same species, but a rather older animal, is seen in Radiograph 
N®. 2. The head has not come out very clearly, as the mummy is encased in a layer 
of calcareous matter, which has partially obstructed the passage of the rays. The 
skulls, however, of both the animals radiographed closely resemble that of Papio 
harnadryas, Linn., which Ehrenberg held to be the sacred baboon of the Ancient 
Egyptians. 
An attempt to radiograph a larger and presumably fully-adult baboon had to be 
abandoned, as there was only time to do the head; but, like the former two mummies, 
it was undoubtedly a specimen of the Hamadryas baboon. 
1 The radiographs were made at the British Museum, Bloomsbury, by Mr. J. H. Gardiner, E.C.S., in my 
presence, 24th June, 1899. 
