i THE GIBBONS. 33 



Ape, which has had the singular fortune of being 

 the first to be made known to the general world 

 and the last to be scientifically investigated. 



Two centuries and a half have passed away 

 since Battell told his stories about the " greater '■ 

 and the " lesser monsters " to Purchas, and it has 

 taken nearly that time to arrive at the clear re- 

 sult that there are four distinct kinds of Anthro- 

 poids — in Eastern Asia, the Gibbons and the 

 Orangs; in Western Africa, the Chimpanzees and 

 the Gorilla. 



The man-like Apes, the history of the discovery 

 of which has just been detailed, have certain char- 

 acters of structure and of distribution in common. 

 Thus they all have the same number of teeth as 

 man — possessing four incisors, two canines, four 

 false molars, and six true molars in each jaw, or 

 32 teeth in all, in the adult condition; while the 

 milk dentition consists of 20 teeth — or four in- 

 cisors, two canines, and four molars in each jaw. 

 They are what are called catarrhine Apes — that is, 

 their nostrils have a narrow partition and look 

 downwards; and, furthermore, their arms are al- 

 ways longer than their legs, the difference being 

 sometimes greater and sometimes less; so that if 

 the four were arranged in the order of the length 

 of their arms in proportion to that of their legs, 

 we should have this series — Orang (If — 1), Gibbon 

 (1-i — 1), Gorilla (4—1), Chimpanzee (l T y -1), 

 107 



