( 39] ) 



NOTE ON GORILLA GORILLA DIEHLI Matschie. 



By the HON. WALTER ROTHSCHILD, Ph.D. 



(Plate XII.) 



IN my "Notes on Anthropoid Ai«s " {P.Z.S. 1904, vol. ii. pp. 413-440), I 

 treated the North Camarooas race of Gorilla as a subspecies of Gorilla 

 gorilla, but considered the Kirunga resp. Kivu race to be a species. I stated, 

 however, that further material was required to settle the question. At the time of 

 writing ten skulls of G. g. diehli and two skulls and a photogi'aph of the freshly 

 killed Gorilla hi'riiigeri was all the available material in museums. In 190(5 

 Mr. Bates sent a somewhat imperfect skin of G. q. diehli, which, while enabling me 

 to complete the diagnosis of the North Camaroons race, settled most unexpectedly 

 the status of the Kirnuga gorilla, for the principal reason which made me keep 

 G. beringeri as a species was the heavy beard shown in the photograph mentioned 

 above. The skin of G. g. diehli sent by Mr. Bates shows a beard fully as long 

 and thick as that of G. beringeri ; and as some skulls of other races of gorilla 

 show quite as marked differences from G. g. gorilla as that of beringeri does, I 

 think there is no doubt that beringeri is only a local race of G. gorilla gorilla, and 

 not a second sjjecies. 



Since writing, iu 1006, I have had the opportunity of examining a number 

 of fresh skulls of G. g. gorilla and G. g. matschiei, and I find there is considerable 

 variation in size, though the differences between these two races and G. g. diehli 

 are quite constant. These individual variations in size iu adult gorilla skulls have 

 brought me to the conclusion that the type skull of Prof. Matschie's Gorilla jacohi 

 is only au abnormally large skull of G. g. matschiei, and that the extreme com- 

 pression of the face is only an individual and abnormal character, almost approaching 

 distortion or malformation. 



The figure of the head of G. g. diehli given on Plate XII. is the reproduction 

 of a fine drawing by Mr. GrOnvold, tut unfortunately the three-colour process has 

 proved a failure in this instance, for the photographic reduction has completely 

 blurred tlie outlines, thus hiding the essential character of the heavy beard. 

 In addition to this the red colour has come through, causing the paler grey 

 hairs, where present, to show too distinctly, and in several places to produce light 

 patches which are not j)resent in the original drawing. The races of gorilla will 

 stand for the present as follows : 



Gorilla gorilla i/orilht. — (iiibooi]. 

 Gorilla gorilla m'dti/ema. — South t'ongo region. 

 Gorilla gorilla mutfchici. — S. Camiiruons. 

 Gorilla gorilla diehli.— 'N. Camaroons. 

 Gorilla gorilla beringeri. — Kirnuga resp. Kivu. 



My reason for altering my opinion on the status of MM. Alix A; Bouvier's 



