100 ANTHROPOID APES. 



the impression of a cat's " whiskers." In Hylohates 

 alhimanus I observed that these vihrissse attain to a 

 considerable length (Fig. 10). 



The external form of the trunk of anthropoids, 

 taken as a whole, does not greatly differ from that 

 of man. We have not, indeed, the well-formed 

 human torso, with its graceful lines ; and the forma- 

 tion of the posteriors, together with a want of expan- 

 sion about the hips, displeases us in its departure 

 from the human type (see Figs. 1 and 6). We shall 

 not be disposed to compare the torso of the Apollo 

 Belvedere, or of the 01ymj)ian Hermes with that of 

 a gorilla or chimpanzee. Yet the torso of a power- 

 ful male gorilla, from which the hair has been 

 removed, may be favourably compared with that of 

 one of the large-bellied, lean-armed weaklings who 

 are everywhere to be found as living caricatures of 

 the human species. 



The neck of anthropoids is generally short 

 and thick. In the gorilla that part of the body 

 has a great backward convexity, owing, as we have 

 said, to the great development of the spinous pro- 

 cesses of the cervical vertebrae, and of the muscles 

 attached to them. A short, thick throat, and con- 

 siderable development of the neck, a bull-neck, as it 

 is called, is also not uufrequent in man. This pecu- 

 liarity is sometimes supposed to be one of the national 

 characteristics of the African blacks. Burmeister 

 says that " the negro's thick neck is the more striking, 

 since it is generally allied with a short throat. In 

 measuring negroes from the crown of the head to 

 the shoulder I found the interval to be from nine 



