. A history of British fossil mammals, and birds . h is, fortunately, a very characteristic one ; and after acomparison of it with the corresponding tubercular tooth inthe lower jaw of the Ooati (Nasua), Racoon (Proci/on),Ratal, Opossum, Phalanger, and other small unguiculatequadrupeds of a mixed or partially carnivorous diet, I pro-ceeded to an examination of the Quadrumana, and found inthat order the desired correspondence. The extreme rarity of the fossil remains of such highlyorganised animals in any part of the world, and the pre-vious total absence of any in a land so tar from the Equato
. A history of British fossil mammals, and birds . h is, fortunately, a very characteristic one ; and after acomparison of it with the corresponding tubercular tooth inthe lower jaw of the Ooati (Nasua), Racoon (Proci/on),Ratal, Opossum, Phalanger, and other small unguiculatequadrupeds of a mixed or partially carnivorous diet, I pro-ceeded to an examination of the Quadrumana, and found inthat order the desired correspondence. The extreme rarity of the fossil remains of such highlyorganised animals in any part of the world, and the pre-vious total absence of any in a land so tar from the Equator * In August 1839, see Magazine of Natural History for September, 1839, These rare fossils are now in the possession of Mr. Colchester. 4 MACACUS. as Eugland, prevented my examination, in the first instance,of the skeletons of the recent Qnadrumana; and it wasnot until T had tried all the more probable analognes of thefossil fragment in the lower forms of the Mammalia, that Ibegan to test it by the side of the jaws of the Apes The grinding surface of the fossil tooth {fig. 3, m, 8,)supports five tubercles, the four anterior ones being arran-ged in two transverse pairs, the fifth forming a posteriorheel, or talon. This conformation of the crown of thelast molar in the lower jaw characteiises two fomilies ofCatarrhine, or Old World Monkeys, viz.^ the Semnopithecidee^including the genera Colobus and 8emno2ntheciis, and theMacacida, including the genera Macacus^ CynocepJialus,and Papio. QUADRUMANA. 5 The next step was to ascertain whether any specialmarks of resembhince woukl yield a further insight intothe affinities of the fossil, and justify its reference to anyof the genera of either family. A diiference in the shapeof the hinder tubercle of the tooth, was first noticed inthe recent Quadrumana, In the Semnopithecida it waslarge, hut simple ; in most of the Macacidce it was par-tially subdivided into two cusps, the outer one being thelargest. As this charact
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