370 Scientific Intelligence. 



carried here by Lady Amherst wanted these nails. My male, and the 

 great Sumatran orang described by Dr Abel has them. The thumb of the 

 foot in the female looks as if the upper joint had been chopped off below 

 the nai and the skin had healed over the wound." 



Mr Swinton goes on to mention the deportment of the two orangs on 

 their first introduction to each other. They tumbled about like children, 

 but without any symptoms of sexual desire, which he attributes to their 

 being so very young. The following notice of the female in a letter from 

 Captain Hull to Mr Swinton, with Mr Swinton's remarks, will be read 

 with interest; and we hope Dr Grant, whose able description of the 

 male appeared in this Journal, will find leisure to draw up a similar ac- 

 count of the female. In case of the death of one or both of the animals, 

 their bodies are to be preserved and sent to England for dissection. 



'* This female stands two feet six inches in height ; is extremely docile 

 and playful ; has been in the possession of Mrs B. for nearly twelve months* 

 during which period it became the constant play-mate and companion of 

 Mrs B's. children; and the only information I can give respecting the 

 abode of this animal is, that it was sent here by Mr B. from Macassar, who 

 is residing on the Celebes. I conclude that this animal is a native of 

 Borneo, which island lies adjacent, distant only a few miles across the 

 Straits ; and most probably it came from the woods near Bangirwassin. 



" This animal must be very young from the appearance of the teeth. 

 The number of grinders in each jaw is four. In the adult described by Dr 

 Abel the grinders are ten in each jaw. It differs in external appearance 

 in some points from the orang-outang which I saw at Mr Swinton's. 

 The head is more thickly covered with hair, and hangs down much longer 

 on each side of the cheeks, and is more bushy. The nose is a more promi- 

 nent feature *, and the hps are thicker, especially the under lip f, and turns 

 more outward than in any other of the species which I have seen, one of 

 the marked distinctions between this order and man. The nail on the 

 great toe is wanting ; this is an essential difference J. Its gait or mode of 

 moving about the room is more generally at a walk in an upright posture, 

 whereas the animal which I used to observe at Mr Swinton's scarcely ever 

 attempted to move in an upright posture §. On the contrary, his manner of 



• Very slightly when together, the female can only be distinguished by a more 

 slender and feminine appearance. If any thing, she is rather taller — G. S. 



The nostrils are more defined and raised ; but can hardly be called prominent. 

 If any thing so flat can be called a nosc^ I would say that her nose is handsomer 

 than his — G. S. 



t I see no difference in the under lip. It is perpetually varying in thinness or thick- 

 ness from the action of the muscles, just as we can make the lip thick or thin by 

 contracting or stretching it— G. S. 



J Not an essential but a sexual difference I am strongly inclined to believe. Dr 

 Montgomery informs me that the female he dissected at Singapore wanted this nail. 

 This then is the third female in which the nail has not been found. — G. S. 



§ The female may have been taught to stand upright. In playing together, they 



move exactly in the same way ; but she can balance herself better on her legs than 



he can — G. S. 



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