266 FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY. 



running over the ground with ease and rapidity ; when 

 standing erect the fingers touch the ground ; only the 

 thumbs and great toes have true nails, in all the higher 

 apes the nails of all the digits being flattened ; the spinal 

 column is nearly straight ; they have fourteen pairs of 

 ribs. 



The orang (Fig. 2G4) dwells in Sumatra and Borneo, be- 



Fio. 264. Orang-outang or Mias. 



ing confined to those two islands ; it is 4 feet C inches tall ; 

 it has twelve pairs of ribs, the same number as in man ; 

 the arms are very long, stretching 7 feet 9 inches, and 

 reaching the ground, so that in walking the creature rests 

 on its knuckles, swinging the body through its long arms 

 as if walking on crutches ; its posture is only partially 

 erect. The -forehead is less strongly marked than in the 



o / 



other apes, showing better the shape of the skull. 



