DISTKIBUTION, HABITS, AND NATIVE NAMES. 255 



of indifference. When seated on the branches of 

 trees, they hiy hold of the higher branches above 

 them for the sake of security (Fig. 14). In this 

 position some gibbons {Hylobates lar, HulocJc, Alli- 

 nianus) have recently been photographed in the 

 Zoological Gardens, London. Although they are for 

 the must part content with a vegetable diet, gibbons 

 sometimes eat animal food, such as lizards; and 

 Bennet saw a siamang seize and devour one of these 

 animals whole. I do not at this moment remember 

 Huxley's authority for the statement that gibbons, 

 when they drink, dip the hand in water and lick it 

 off, but I have myself seen this done by a captive 

 animal. They sleep in a sitting position without 

 building nests : like other anthropoids, they digest 

 their food quickly. 



In the case of gibbons, as of anthropoids generally, 

 the length of the period of gestation is still a matter 

 of uncertainty. The young are of slow develop- 

 ment, and are not fully mature before their four- 

 teenth or fifteenth year. Neither is the duration 

 of their lives accurately known, since observations 

 made on captive specimens only lead to vague con- 

 clusions. If we observe the processes of osseous 

 development in the skeletons of aged specimens of 

 gorillas in order to make an approximate estimate, 

 we may infer that the duration of the life of anthro- 

 poids, at any rate in their larger forms, hardly falls 

 short of the average length of human life. But up 

 to this time the question remains undecided. 



These creatures do not appear to be free from 

 morbid conditions in the wild life which is in con- 



