14 Professor Owen, [Feb. 4, 



position diverges from tlie other toes at an angle of 60 deg. from the 

 axis of the foot ; its base is large, swelling into a kind of ball below, 

 upon which the thick callous epiderm of the sole is continued. The 

 transverse indents and wrinkles show the frequency and freedom of the 

 flexile movements of the two joints of the hallux; the nail is small, 

 flat, and short. The sole of the foot gradually expands from the heel 

 forward to the divergence of the hallux, and seems to be here cleft, and 

 almost equally, between the base of the hallux and the common base of 

 the other four digits. These are small and slender in proportion, and 

 their bases are enveloped in a common tegumentary sheath as far as 

 the base of the second phalanx. A longitudinal indent at the middle 

 of the sole, bifurcating — one channel defining the ball of the hallux, 

 the other running towards the interspace between the second and third 

 digit — indicates the action of opposing the whole thumb (which seems 

 rather like an inner lobe or division of the sole), to the outer division 

 terminated by the four short toes. What is termed the " instep " in 

 man is very high in the gorilla, owing to the thickness of the cameo- 

 tendinous parts of the muscles as they pass from the leg to the foot 

 over this region. The mid-toe (third) is a little longer than the second 

 and fourth ; the fifth, as in man, is proportionally shorter than the 

 fourth, and is divided from it by a somewhat deeper cleft. The whole 

 sole is wider than in man — relatively to its length much wider — and in 

 that respect, as well as by the oflT-set of the hallux, and the definition 

 of its basal ball, more like a hand, but a hand of huge dimensions 

 and of protentous power of grasp. 



The hairy integument is continued along the dorsum of the foot to 

 the clefts of the toes, and upon the first phalanx of the hallux : the 

 whole sole is bare. 



In regard to the outward coloration of the gorilla, only from the ex- 

 amination of the living animal could the precise shades of colour of the 

 naked parts of the skin be truly described. Much of the epiderm had 

 peeled off the subject of the present discourse ; but fortunately in large 

 patches, and the texture of these had acquired a certain firmness, 

 apparently by the action of the alcohol upon the albuminous basis. 

 The parts of the epiderm remaining upon the face indicated the skin 

 there to be chiefly of a deep leaden hue ; it is everywhere finely 

 wrinkled, and was somewhat less dark at the prominent parts of the 

 supraciliary roll and the prominent margins of the nasal " alae :" the 

 soles and palms were also of a lighter colour. 



Although the general colour of the hair appears, at first sight, and 

 when moist, to be almost black, it is not so, but is rather of a dusky 

 grey : it is decidedly of a less deep tint tlian in the chimpanzee ( TrogL 

 niger) : this is due to an admixture of a few reddish, and of more 

 greyish, hairs with the dusky coloured ones which chiefly constitute the 

 *' pelage : " and the above admixture varies at different parts of the 

 body. The reddish hairs are so numerous on the scalp, especially 

 along the upper middle region, as to make their tint rather predominate 

 there ; they blend in a less degree with the long hairs upon the sides 

 of the face. The greyish hairs are found mixed with the dusky upon 



