On the myology of Hyrax capensis / by James Murie and St. George J. Mivart.

  • Murie, James.
Date:
[1865]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the myology of Hyrax capensis / by James Murie and St. George J. Mivart. 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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    On the Myology of Hyrax capensis. ^James Murie, M.D., and St. George J. Mivart, F.Z.S. c the time of Cuvier, naturalists seem generally to have agreed w him in associating the Hyrax with the perissodactyle Pachy- 's. ofessor Huxley, however, in an elaborate and interesting paper the structure of the placenta in this species, read before the Zoological Society in June 1863, stated important facts, which had led him greatly to doubt the accuracy of his illustrious predecessor's determination. It therefore becomes a matter of great zoological and anatomical interest to ascertain precisely the details of the anatomy of this some- what anomalous genus, so that valid data may be obtained for the formation of a true judgment as to its real affinities, and from which its definite place in the system of nature may be correctly ascertained. It would be a superfluous task to enumerate here all the earlier and well-known dissertations on, and descriptions of, this animal; but we may refer to two papers published in the ' Proceedings' of this Society,—one by Professor Owen, read in December 1832, containing a most interesting description of its internal structure, and comparing many of its varied characters with those of the Rodents, Pachyderms, and Edentates; the other by the late Mr. W. Martin, read in February 1835, corroborating Pallas's and Professor Owen's observa- tions. We may also allude to H. Kaula's earlier Monograph, pub- lished in 1830*. Since this present paper was undertaken, our attention has been called to a notice by Prof. J. F. Brandt, in the ' Bulletin de l'Aca- demie Imperiale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg,' tome v. no. 7, p. 508, in which that author appears inclined to restore the Hyrax to the place assigned to it by Pallas, namely, among the Rodents, although at the same time he mentions his discovery in it of a sac- like enlargement of the Eustachian tube similar to that existing in the Horse. The author further announces his intention of soon laying before the Imperial Academy a complete account of the anatomy of the Hyrax; but we are not aware that this has yet been done ; so that we may, in fairness, be permitted to state the results of our examination of the myology of this animal—the more so since, as far as we know, scarcely anything has hitherto been published on this subject beyond Meckel's observations, and because several of the facts we have noticed seem to us of considerable interest, and perhaps may even be found, if taken along with the peculiarities of the skeleton, to contribute some little towards the elucidation of its natural affinities. Before proceeding to the description of the muscles, we must express our regret that the mutilated condition of the lower part of the neck and the abdomen in our specimen, prevented the accurate determination of several points of considerable interest. * Monographia Hyracis. Diss, inaug. qiiam praeside Rapp. publ. examini sub- mittit H. Kaula. Tubing. 1830. [1]