MAN AND APES. 85 



be approximation to the nakedness of man, 

 since both in Simla and in Troglodytes they 

 are wanting, while in Hylobates they are 

 exceedingly small. On the other hand, the 

 absence of these dermal thickenings in the 

 Orang, Chimpanzee, and Gorilla is no 

 especial mark of affinity to man, since they 

 are equally absent in all the American apes 

 and in all the Lemuroids. 



One of the most grotesque conceptions 

 suggested by Mr. Darwin is that the naked- 

 ness of man, and especially of woman, has been 

 produced by the gradual extension over the 

 body (through the persistent choice of more 

 and more hairless spouses) of an incipient local 

 nakedness like that now existing in certain 

 apes.* No facts known to the author afford 

 the slightest basis for this bizarre hypothesis. 



No single ape or Lemuroid has so exclusive 



and preponderating a development of hair on 



the head and face as exists in most men. As 



to the head, long hair thereon is not a 



* See "Descent of Man," vol. ii. p. 377. 



