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Show 952 LETTER FROM DR. J. KIRK. [Dec. 12, Duvaucel. Mr. Ogilby, in his ' History of Monkeys,' when remarking upon M . Duvaucel's adventures with the Entellus, informs us that by " Gouptipara," the name of the place where the animal was shot, " he appears to mean the city of Goalpara." On the contrary, however, he appears to mean nothing of the kind; for he distinctly states that the city of Gouptipara, where he shot the animal, was a holy place with many temples, and situated on the river Hooglee, somewhere near Chandernagore in Lower Bengal, and therefore not far from Calcutta; whereas Goalpara is situated on the Burham-pooter river in Assam, about 200 miles away. The fact is that Mr. Ogilby, being better acquainted with menageries than with the geography of India, took upon himself to alter the names of the places, and by so doing gave rise to the erroneous idea that the Entellus occurs in Assam. But besides giving us the River Hooglee and Chandernagore as guides to the locality, M . Duvaucel likewise plainly speaks of his having been thwarted by "theBengalese," who constantly scared away the monkeys; whereas, had he alluded to Goalpara, he would have called the people " Assamese." Hence the error in this respect appears to be entirely owing to Mr. Ogilby's ignorance of the geography of the country, and to his unwarrantable alteration of the name furnished by M . Duvaucel. The remarks now made, founded upon long and patient research into the history of the animal, will, I trust, not prove unacceptable to m y brother naturalists in Europe. December 12th, 1867. Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. The following extract was read from a letter addressed to the Secretary by Dr. John Kirk, C.M.Z.S., dated Zanzibar, Sept. 7th :- " In the collection of animals in spirits now ready for transmission to England by the first opportunity, I have placed several specimens of the Galago of the island of Zanzibar; which, I can now assure you, is very different from that of the opposite coast. I have kept specimens of both here : the colour, form of snout, size of ears, &c. are very distinct. The species of the coast is, no doubt, G. crassicaudatus, while I presume the island one is G. agisgmbanus, of which there are no specimens in England. " I am not satisfied regarding the little Antelopes of this island, whether there are not two species; the texture of the fur varies much, also the size of ears; but I have not had an opportunity of comparing a sufficient number of specimens to be certain. " I have only three species of Bats from Zanzibar ; this is singular, |
