THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



MAY, 1832. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. The Habits and Manners of the female Borneo Orang- 

 utan {Simia Sati/rus)^ and the male Chimpanzee {Simia Tro- 

 glodt/tes), as observed during their Exhibition at the Egyptian 

 Hall, in 1831. By Mr. J. E. Warwick. 



Sir, 

 The great interest and curiosity excited by the recent eX' 

 hibition of the Chimpanzee and the Borneo orang-utan ; 

 and a suggestion which has been made to me, that the oppor- 

 tunity I possessed of being constantly with them should be 

 made productive of some result, have induced me to mark 

 and note down the manners and dispositions of these inter- 

 esting specimens of the animal kingdom ; and I now submit 

 the following, in the hope that it may be acceptable to 

 many of your readers, very few of whom probably have ever 

 seen the animals whose singular habits I am here attempting 

 to describe. 



On the first sight of the two specimens, the difference was 

 so remarkable as almost to excite a doubt whether they be- 

 longed to the same genus. The most striking points of dis- 

 tinction were the length of the facial angle in the female, or 

 Borneo orang (»Simia 5'atyrus) ; the singular smallness of 

 the ear, and its close resemblance to that of the human 

 species ; the pear-shaped head ; the nose but in a slight degree 

 elevated ; the nostrils narrow and oblique ; the extreme 

 length of the arms, the use made of them in walking, the 

 animal resting the hands on the ground, and swinging as if 

 on crutches ; the hair of a reddish brown, very short, and but 

 slightly scattered over the body ; the abdomen exceedingly 



Vol. v. — No. 26. x 



