SILVERY GIBBON. 



she uttered her rapid cry, and at its conclusion she shook witli all her strength 

 the object to which she "was clinging. 



This individual was pleasing in manners, gentle and caressing to those whom 

 she favoured. AVith delicate discrimination, she at once admitted ladies into her 

 confidence, and Avoidd come to them voluntarily, shake hands, and penuit hei'self 

 to be stroked. But when gentlemen tried to gain her affection, she deliberated 

 on the matter, and did not allow of a nearer acquaintance without further investi- 

 gation. But when her scruples were once overcome, she was perfectly affectionate 

 and confiding. 



Some idea of the proportion of limbs and body of this ape may be gained by 

 contrasting them with those of the human form. An ordinary man, when 

 standing erect, permitting the arms to hang freely by his sides, finds that the tips 

 of his fingers reach to the middle of the thigh. But when the Gibbon assumes 

 the erect attitude, its finger-tips reach as far as the ankle-joint. Again, if a well- 

 proportioned man stand ])erfectly erect, and stretches his arms out in a horizontal 

 direction, the distance between the extended finger-tips is as nearly as possible 

 e(|ual to the height of the body, measured from the top of the head to the 

 ground. But if the Agile Gibbon extends its limbs in a similar manner, the 

 measurement between the fingei*s is just double that of the entire height of the 

 aninud 



On account of this prepoiulerance of the arms over the legs, the Agile Gibbon 

 is not a very good walker on its hiiuler feet, but waddles along in an awkward 

 fashion. AMiile thus employed, the animal sways its long anus as balancers 

 after the fashion of a rope-dancer, and now and then helps itself along the level 

 surface with the hands on the ground. The Gibbon, though so manellously 

 light and active among trees, is totally out of its element when it is depri\ed of 

 the branches, and forced to traverse the flat ground. All its elegance and exquisite 

 address are lost, and the creature becomes as clumsy as it was fonuerly graceful. 

 A swan while awkwardly hobbling over dry land, with a gait like that of a lame 

 Silenus, afibrds no greater contrast to the same bird when proudly sailing on the 

 water with arched neck and gliding movement, than does the Gibbon when 

 stranded on unfamiliar earth to the same animal disporting itself among the 

 congenial branches. 



This s])ocies does not a])pear to love society as much as do many of the 

 apes and monkeys, but lives in pail's, contented with the society of its own 

 family. 



12 



