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Show 140 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE BRADYPODIDA. [May 2, examine and describe them osteologically; not that I in the least underestimate the value of this very interesting and important branch of science ; but the theory of the structure of the skeleton has very little to do with the zoological distribution, and, to judge by the results, a scientific man who has paid great attention to that study may have a very imperfect idea of the value of the zoological character afforded by tbe skull as a whole, and most crude ideas of the connexion of the genera with one another, even in examining the perfect skeletons of living animals; indeed such ideas make one lose all confidence when the same kind of study is applied to fossil remains. I need only refer to the extraordinary mistakes that have been made in naming the skulls of such large animals as Crocodiles, Rhinoceroses, Tapirs, and Cetacea by one of the most celebrated osteologists, in which he has given the same species various names and included under the same name several most distinct species ; and if this be the case where perfect specimens are to be examined, what must we expect of multitudes of genera established on small fragments found in a fossil state, or of the affinities they are said to present. Paleontology, as it is called, will never be worthy the name of science until the paleontologist has a good knowledge of recent species and their characters, and the bones of the recent and fossil species are studied together. I. Fur moderatelg long and rather rigid, dark grey ; back with a dorsal streak and distinct white spots. Males with a large yellow patch of soft hair on the back. a. Forehead, cheeks, chin, and throat with short, erect, rigid, yellow hair. 1. ARCTOPITHECUS CUCULLIGER. The Yellow-throated Ai. B.M. Forehead, temple, chin, aud throat covered with short, erect, yellow hair, surrounded by a more or less broad black collar ; spot behind the eye small; fur blackish, short, rigid; under-fur short, sparse. Skull: nose rather elongate, narrow ; lower jaw moderately strong; the front lower grinder flat, smooth, and moderately broad in front; angle of the lower jaw much produced, slender, elongate. cS and $. Bradypus cuculliger,^agler, Isis, 1831, p. 605; and Wagner, iv. p. 145? Rapp, Edentata, v. t. 3. f. 1 (skull). Bradypus tridactylus guianensis, Blainville, Osteog. t. ii. fig. Arctopithecus gularis (part.), Gray, Cat. Edentata, p. 364 ; P. Z. S. 1849, t. xi. f. 6 (angle of lower jaw). $ . Blackish ; shoulders, back, and haunches covered over with close large black spots. The head and throat yellow. Young. Fur long, soft, and flaccid, grey-brown ; back whitish, mottled ; face and throat yellowish; eye-streak and circumference of head and neck blackish. Hab. Guiana (Riippell) : Demerara, Brit. Mus. Wragner says this species has no postocular streak ; but this does not agree with our specimen. The fur of the female in the Museum |