The myology of the upper and lower extremities of Orycteropus capensis / by John Charles Galton.

  • Galton, John Charles, 1840-
Date:
[1868]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The myology of the upper and lower extremities of Orycteropus capensis / by John Charles Galton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    \_From the Transactions of the Linnean Societt, toe. xxti,] The Myology of the Tipper and Lower Extremities of Orycteropus Capensis. By John Chahles Galton, Esq., M.A., Exeter College, Oxford. (Plates XLV. & XLVI.) Read June 4th, 1868. A REMAE/KABLY fine adult male specimen of Orycteropus Capensis^ (the “ Aard- vark” of Dutch colonists) having been presented to the University Museum, Oxford, by W. A. Sandford, Esq., E.G.S., of Nynehead Court, Somerset, I have been enabled, by the kind permission of Prof. Bolleston, E.B.S., to examine the muscular system of this animal. The rarity of the beast, the great size of the specimen, and the fair condition, in most respects, of its muscles, and, finally, the hope of being able to throw even yet some light here and there upon its anatomy, since they were the reasons which encouraged me in the undertaking, are the excuses which I offer to this Society for bringing forward the results of what may appear to some a work of supererogation, seeing that a paper on the myology of the Orycteropus, by Prof. Humphry, of Cambridge, was published but lately in the journal which he conducts as joint editor^. Cuvier has the priority of Prof. Humphry in investigation of the myology of Oryc- teropus ; but no complete record of his observations, if ever written, appears to be extant. He has, however, left nine figures, which are comprised in three plates, illus- trating the anatomy of this animal, as a testimony of his labours^. The specimen which I am about to describe weighed 95 lbs. The viscera and external genitals had been removed; and it had been conveyed to England in spirit. The principal measurements were as follows :—Prom tip of snout to extremity of tail, inches; from tip of tail to lower border of pubic symphysis, 25 inches (the neigh- bourhood of the anus had been so involved in the incisions which had been made for the removal of the genitals, that I had no better fixed point from which to take a measurement); from labial commissure to anterior angle of eyelids, 3f inches; from ^ Por figures of the animal, see:—Rapp’s ‘AnatomischeUntersuchungen fiber die Edentaten,’ Tfibingen, 1852, Taf. i.; Daniell’s ‘ Sketches representing the native Tidbes, Animals, and Scenery of Southern Africa,’ London, 1820, plate ii. (the drawings, though somewhat rude, are no doubt very trustworthy, since they were taken in the country itself); Cuvier’s ‘ Regne Animal’ (Mammiferes), pi. 73 (the figure here given was taken from a stuffed specimen) ; ‘ English Cyclopaedia,’ (Nat. Hist.) vol. i. fig. 1, art. Aard-vaek. There is a description of this animal at p. 342, vol. i. of Burchell’s ‘ Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa ’ (2 vols. Lond. 1822). The vignette at the head of chap. 18, p. 446 of the same volume, represents ant-hills, one of which has been broken into at the side by the Aard-vark. The Hottentot name for this animal {oj). cit. vol. ii. p. 424) is Takkaru. ■ Journ. of Anat. and Phys. (2nd ser.) vol. i. p. 290. Cambridge, 1868. ’ Cuvier, Laurdlard et Mercier, ‘ Anatomie Comparee, recueil de planches’ (fob), pis. 254-256. Paris, 1855. VOL. XXVI. 4 K