34 THE NATUKAL HISTORY OF 



were " probably one of the species of the Orang ; " and I 

 quite agree with M. Brulle, that there is no ground for 

 identifying the modern ' Gorilla ' with that of the Cartha- 

 ginian admiral. 



Since the memoir of Savage and "Wyman was pub- 

 lished, the skeleton of the Gorilla has been investigated 

 by Professor Owen and by the late Professor Duvernoy, 

 of the Jardin des Plantes, the latter having further sup- 

 plied a valuable account of the muscular system and of 

 many of the other soft parts ; while African missionaries 

 and travellers have confirmed and expanded the account 

 originally given of the habits of this great man-like Ape, 

 which has had the singular fortune of being the first to be 

 made known to the general world and the last to be scien- 

 tifically investigated. 



Two centuries and a half have passed away since Bat- 

 tell told his stories about the ' greater ' and the ' lesser 

 monsters ' to Purchas, and it has taken nearly that time 

 to arrive at the clear result that there are four distinct 

 kinds of Anthropoids — ^in Eastern Asia, the Gibbons and 

 the Orangs ; in Western Africa, the Chimpanzees and the 

 Gorilla. 



The man-like Apes, the history of whose discovery has 

 just been detailed, have certain characters 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 incisors, two 

 canines, and four molars in each jaw. They are what are 

 called catarrhine Apes — that is, their nostrils have a nar- 

 row partition and look downwards ; and, furthermore, 

 their arms are always longer than their legs, the differ- 



