On Didelphis caudivolvula Kerr and Didelphis vulpecula Kerr

Some months ago I was happy enough to procure for our library the rare Animal Kingdom written by Kerr. This autuhor described clearly two Phalangers under the names New-Holland descriptions have Opossum and Vulpine Opossum: these been overlooked by all the naturalist Who have studied the Phalanger-group. As the specimens of these two species are greatly varying in color, and these varieties have been described as species, will try to give a synonymy as complete as possible and to describe in short terms the individuals in our collection in order to give the reader an impression of the variation in color of the species in question

What about the Javan Bear?

The other day I read in a dutch popular periodical a paper dealing with the different species of Bears and their geographical distribution. To my great surprise the Malayan Bear was mentioned from Java: the locality Java being quite new to me I wrote to the author of that paper and asked him some informations about the matter: he referred me to Brehm’s »Tierleben” and Flower and Lydekker’s »Mammals.” Indeed on p. 245 of Brehm’s Tierleben, Säugethiere, zweiter Band, 1890, Dr. Pechuel Loesche stated: »der Biruang Ursus malayanus) bewohnt Borneo, Java, Sumatra, die Malayische Halbinsel und verbreitet sich nordwärts durch Tenasserim bis nach Burma und durch Arakan bis nach Tschittagong”; and in Flower and Lydekker’s Mammals, 1891, p. 559, the geographical distribution of the Malay Bear or Sun Bear Ursus malayanus) runs as follows: »this small species inhabits the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Tenasserim, Arakan, Chittagong and the Garo hills of India.

What about the Javan Bear?

The other day I read in a dutch popular periodical a paper dealing with the different species of Bears and their geographical distribution. To my great surprise the Malayan Bear was mentioned from Java: the locality Java being quite new to me I wrote to the author of that paper and asked him some informations about the matter: he referred me to Brehm’s »Tierleben” and Flower and Lydekker’s »Mammals.” Indeed on p. 245 of Brehm’s Tierleben, Säugethiere, zweiter Band, 1890, Dr. Pechuel Loesche stated: »der Biruang Ursus malayanus) bewohnt Borneo, Java, Sumatra, die Malayische Halbinsel und verbreitet sich nordwärts durch Tenasserim bis nach Burma und durch Arakan bis nach Tschittagong”; and in Flower and Lydekker’s Mammals, 1891, p. 559, the geographical distribution of the Malay Bear or Sun Bear Ursus malayanus) runs as follows: »this small species inhabits the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Tenasserim, Arakan, Chittagong and the Garo hills of India.

On a collection of Mammals from East-Sumatra

Dr. B. Hagen, the well known passionate naturalist, lived several years in Tandjong-Morawa, later in Medan, East-Sumatra, Deli. He published in »Das Ausland, 1881” a paper, entitled »Vorläufige Mitteilungen über die Fauna Ost Sumatras.” In this paper he solely treated the Mammals, especially based upon the collections made by himself and by his hunters. Afterwards he presented his whole immense collection to the Leyden Museum, several thousands specimens of Mammals, Birds, Reptiles and Insects. Up to the investigations made by Dr. Hagen about nothing was known concerning the Mammals of the eastern part of Sumatra, and so I think that a review of his collections will be very wellcome to naturalists, the more as the Fauna of Sumatra is one of the bases upon which Wallace built his wide-stretching speculations. Wallace (the Malay Archipelago, 1869) made inquiries about the Orang-Utan (not Orang-Outang as Blanford writes, see the Fauna of British India, a. s. o., Mammalia, Part I, 1888, p. 4), but none of the natives had ever heard of such an animal, nor could he find any of the Dutch officials who knew anything about it. He concluded therefore, that it does not inhabit the great forest plains in the of Sumatra, but is probably confined to a limited region in the north-west. Von Rosenberg (Der Malayische Archipel, 1878) related: »der Orang-Utan wird nur in den flachen, sumpfigen Küstenwäldern angetroffen, welche nördlich von Tapanoli das Land bis Singkel überziehen und ihrer Unzugänglichkeit wegen nur selten von einem menschlichen Fusse betreten werden.” Some years ago there was living in the Rotterdam-Zoological Gardens an Orang-Utan from the interior of Padang, West-Sumatra. In 1875 my brother-in-law hunted in Langkat, Deli, East-Sumatra, a very stout Orang-Utan, but unhappily the chinese-workmen had cut it to pieces before he could prevent it

On two new species of Cercopithecus

In 1877 our Museum received a Cercopithecus died in the Zoological Garden at Rotterdam. Professor Schlegel thought it to be a new species and called it Cercopithecus signatus, but he never described it. As it seems to me to be a very good species I describe it under the name given by Schlegel. It belongs to Schlegel’s section VIII (vide Museum d’Histoire naturelle des Pays-Bas, Simiae, p. 86): Cercopithèques à nez blanc; A: Base du triangle, formé par le champ nasal revêtu de poils blancs, tournée vers le haut. I thus compare it with the two species of this subdivision: Cercopithecus petaurista and Cercopithecus ascanias. I remember that C. petaurista is characterized by having the white color of the sides of the head interrupted by a black band running from the orbits to the sides of the neck, and by another black band running from ear to ear round the vertex (fascia nigra trans caput ab aure ad aurem, see Erxleben p. 36), C. ascanias by a black band running from the nose to the sides of the neck. C. signatus presents no trace of the mentioned black bands and by this character it is very easy to distinguish it from its congeners. Upperparts of body and of tail, underparts of body and inside of legs colored like in C. petaurista. Hind legs colored like forelegs, darker than in C. petaurista and C ascanias: underparts of tail dirty white. Hairs of sides of head grizzled (each hair ringed with white, yellowish and black), abruptly separated from the more reddish colored upperparts of the head by a black band, running from ear to ear over the orbits; it is a band exactly like that in C. petaurista, but does not continue in a black band round the vertex like in C. petaurista. Sides of the muzzle and a few hairs on the anterior part of the lower lip black. The ears seem to be somewhat larger and their inside more hairy than in the two mentioned species

Taxonomia e variação geográfica das espécies do gênero Alouatta Lacépède (Primates, Atelidae) no Brasil Taxonomy and geographic variation of species of the genus Alouatta Lacépède (Primates, Atelidae) in Brazil

Neste estudo analisou-se a variação geográfica e não-geográfica de táxons de bugios, gênero Alouatta Lacépède, 1799, que ocorrem no Brasil, com o objetivo de esclarecer a taxonomia do grupo. Para a análise morfológica, examinou-se um total de 1.286 espécimes mantidos em cinco museus brasileiros e dois norte-americanos. O material consistiu basicamente de peles, crânios e ossos hióides; esqueletos e espécimes preservados em via úmida foram escassos. O estudo se baseou na análise qualitativa dos complexos morfológicos em adição a 18 morfométicos do crânio e osso hióide. Antes das decisões taxonômicas, elaborou-se um estudo de variação geográfica, sexual, ontogenética e individual. Reconheceu-se 10 espécies de Alouatta ocorrendo no Brasil, sendo a maioria definida por caracteres discretos, porém diagnósticos. São elas: Alouatta caraya (Humboldt, 1812), A. fusca (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1812), A. clamitans Cabrera, 1940, A. belzebul (Linnaeus, 1766), A. discolor (Spix, 1823), A. ululata Elliot, 1912; A. juara (Linnaeus, 1766), A. macconnelli (Humboldt, 1812), A. puruensis Lönnberg, 1941 e A. nigerrima Lönnberg, 1941. Alouatta macconnelli e A. clamitans mostraram notável variação geográfica na coloração da pelagem e algumas variáveis morfométricas (polimorfismo) o que dificultou as definições e limites dos táxons. Alouatta belzebul apresentou variação em mosaico na coloração da pelagem. Alouatta ululata e A. puruensis foram definidas pela presença de dicromatismo sexual na pelagem, mas este caráter pode ser um artefato e necessita estudos adicionais para corroborar sua validade. Sinonimizou-se Alouatta belzebul mexianae Hagmann, 1908 com A. discolor; e a validade de Alouatta seniculus amazonica Lönnberg 1941, não foi considerada.<br>In this monograph, was studied non-geographic and geographic variation of taxa of Howling Monkeys, genus Alouatta Lacépède, 1799, occuring in Brazil, in order to solve the taxonomy of the group. For the morphological analysis, were examined a total of 1,286 specimens kept in five Brazilian and two North-American museums. The material consisted mostly of skin, skull and hyoid bone; skeleton or fluid-preserved specimens were scarse. The study was based on qualitative analysis of the morphological complexes in addition 18 morphometric characters of the skull and hyoid bone. Prior to making taxonomic decisions, was conducted a study of geographic, sexual, ontogenetic, and individual variation. Were recognized ten species of Alouatta occuring in Brazil and most of them were defined by discrete, but diagnostic characters. The species are: Alouatta caraya (Humboldt, 1812), A. fusca (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1812), A. clamitans Cabrera, 1940, A. belzebul (Linnaeus, 1766), A. discolor (Spix, 1823), A. ululata Elliot, 1912; A. juara (Linnaeus, 1766), A. macconnelli (Humboldt, 1812), A. puruensis Lönnberg, 1941, and A. nigerrima Lönnberg, 1941. Alouatta macconnelli and A. clamitans showed noticeable geographic variation on pelage coloration and some morphometric characters (polymorphism) difficulting their definition and geographic limits. Alouatta belzebul presented an accentuated geographic mosaic variation on coat coloration. Alouatta ululata and A. puruensis were defined in presenting sexual dicromism on pelage, but this character can be an artefate due the small sample and both taxa need further studies to confirm their validity. Alouatta belzebul mexianae Hagmann, 1908 was sinonimized with A. discolor; and the validity of Alouatta seniculus amazonica Lönnberg 1941 was not considered