| OCR Text |
Show 496 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE ROEBUCK OF PERU. [Nov. 1 1, Geoffroy (loc. cit.) and De Blainville (Osteographie, tome ii., Genus Canis, p. 34, pl. 3 bis), it is not necessary to add much on tbe subject to these notes, except to make a correction as to the number of the vertebrae and ribs. The skeleton in the Paris Museum, which was the subject of the observations of the above-named authors, is stated to have seven cervical, fourteen dorsal, six lumbar, two sacral, and twenty-one or twenty-two caudal vertebra?. The present animal has fifteen well-developed pairs of ribs, of which eight directly join the sternum. As the skeleton in the Leyden Mnseuin has the same number, it may be presumed that fifteen dorsal and five lumbar vertebrae is the rule. This affords another point of approximation to the Hyaenas, which have generally fifteen (sometimes sixteen) pairs of ribs. The number of caudal vertebrae in the present skeleton is twenty-four. The scapula of this individual differs from that of the younger skeleton figured by De Blainville in having the upper half of the anterior border rather deeply excavated, as in the Ichneumons. Although De Blainville thought the contrary, it appears to me that the tout ensemble of the skeleton far more resembles that of a Hyaena than that of a Dog. The length and strength of the cervical region, and the large size of the anterior as compared with the posterior limbs (pointed out by Isidore Geoffroy), are thoroughly Hyaenoid. In conclusion, although I am still inclined to place Proteles in a family by itself, allied to both Hycenidce and Viverridce, the examination of this specimen shows that its affinities with the former family are closer than the examination of the skull alone led me to suppose. Preparations of the brain, tongue, larynx, lungs, heart, stomach, caecum, liver, spleen, kidneys, organs of generation, and anal glands, as well as the skeleton, are preserved in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. It is from these that the drawings which illustrate this communication have been made. 2. O n the Guemul, or Roebuck of Southern Peru. By Dr. J. E. GRAY, F.R.S. &c. Travellers in Chili have mentioned a two-hoofed animal, called Guemul, or Huamul. It has been so indistinctly indicated, that Molina regarded it as a Horse, Hamilton Smith as a Llama, and the compilers (such as Leuckart and Lesson) considered that it might be a peculiar genus, for which they have proposed the compound names of Hippocamelus and Cervequus. M. Gay (1835) regarded it as a new genus, but did not give a name to it. In 1846 M M . Gay and Gervais, when preparing a work on the Mammalia of Chili, described a young specimen in the Paris Museum without horns under the name of Cervus chilensis. In 1849 the Earl of Derby received from his brother-in-law, from Chili, an imperfect skin of a female, which he sent to the British Museum. The fur was of a different colour from that of the speci- |
