THE EXTERNAL FORM OF ANTHROPOID APES. 41 



fingers, and the third is next to it in length. The 

 fourth finger is comparatively long. The palm of 

 the hand is flat, only marked by a few deep furrows. 

 The long, slender fingers are laterally compressed, 

 and the nails on their tapering ends are arched. 



The thighs, somewhat compressed on the inner 

 side, are, however, very muscular, but become mucli 

 smaller on their back side. The calf of the leg is less 

 developed than in the gorilla, or even than in the 

 chimpanzee. The feet are, like the hands, long and 

 slender. The narrow, flat heels project very slightly 

 behind. The great toes are short, with wide ex- 

 tremities, rounded above, and provided on the sole 

 with thick, fatty skin. In old age these apimals not 

 only often lose the nails of their great toes, but some- 

 times even the last phalanges themselves. This is 

 not merely a disease produced by confinement, as is 

 the case with sea-cat monkeys, hyenas, etc., which in 

 this condition lose portions of their tails or toes, but 

 it also occurs among orang-utans in their wild state. 

 The middle toe is the longest, and the fourth toe 

 is the shortest. Layers of fat may be observed on 

 the under side of all but the great toe, where 

 they rarely occur. The backs of the hands and 

 feet are covered with very ribbed and wrinkled skin, 

 and on the hands there are callosities. 



This animal, of a quieter and more phlegmatic 

 disposition than the gorilla and chimpanzee, has 

 a very strange appearance, with its projecting head 

 and short neck ; its face widening in the middle and 

 tapering towards the forehead and chin ; its tun- 

 shaped trunk, long, thin extremities, and shaggy 



