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Show 624 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON THE [Dec. 6, published in 1648 a work entitled ' Historia Naturalis Brasiliae.' This work contains descriptions not only of Brazilian animals, but also of several from the Portuguese possessions in Western Africa. Thus there is an unmistakable figure of the Red River-hog, on which the Sus porcus of Linnaeus was founded \ At the page 227 quoted in the ' Systema Naturae' is the following description :- " Cercopithecus Angolensis major; in Congo vocant Macaquo. Color pilorum totius corporis ut Lupi, nares habet bifidas, elatas; caput ursino simile, nates calvos quibus insidet: caudam semper portet arcuatam. Longitudo corporis a capite ad caudam unius pedis et supra: capitis longitudo sex digitorum ; caudae pedalis; crura quatuor aequalis longitudinis decern digitorum in prioribus cruribus; manus tres Sc semis digit, longas, quinque digitis prae-ditas, in posterioribus longas manus quinque digitos. Crassities corporis ubi maxima unius pedis & novem digitorum : clamat hah, hah. Dentes habet albissimos. Mire gesticulatur, penem hahet humano simileminstar pueri." It is perfectly clear from this that Simia cynomolgos, L., was an animal inhabiting the country around the mouth of the Congo, and, judging from the size, the bear-like head, and tail shorter than the body, a Baboon2. Certainly the Linnaean name has not the slightest application to the Malay Monkey, commonly known (improperly) as the Macaque Monkey, for which this name is generally used. The Malay Monkey is, however, Buffon's "Macaque"; this name and also the generic term Mucaca of Lace'pede (1801) (subsequently modified into Macacus by F. Cuvier and Desmarest) being derived evidently from the same West-African or Portuguese word as Marcgrav's Macaquo. Schreber in this case, as in that of Simia silenus, is the author of the confusion that has arisen. He applied the Linnaean term Simia cynomolgos to Buffon's Macaque, oi which he copied the figure. The first author, so far as I can ascertain, who noticed the difference between Buffon's Macaque and the Simia cgnomolgos of Linnaeus was Frederick Cuvier, who, in 18183, proposed for the former the name Macacus irus, a name that I think should, in accordance with the rules of nomenclature, be retained for the Malay Monkey. There are, however, two other early names, S. ay gula, Linn. (Syst. Nat. ed. 12, i. p. 39), and S. atys, Audebert (Hist. Nat. Singes et Makis), that have been ap; lied to the present species; and it is as well to inquire whether either can be identified as pertaining to it. Simia aygula was thus described by Linnaeus : - " S. caudata subimherbis grisea, eminentia pilosa verticis reversa longitudinali," with the quotation " Osb. Iter. 99." Osbeck's 'Voyage to China 1 The much later specific title penicillatus, given by Schinz in 1847, is commonly used for this animal. 2 The term narihus hifidis is puzzling, and I cannot suggest any satisfactory explanation of it. ' Memoires du Museum,' iv. p. 120. |