Ohfervat'ons an tie Orang Outang. S39 



their habits. We might as well fay that fome fpecies of 

 the genera of the lemur, cavia, erinaceus, &c. which have no 

 tail, are fimilar to the orang outangs ; which would be an 

 abfurdity. On the contrary, in a family like that of the 

 apes, where all the principal organs exhibit no remarkable 

 numerical difference, and where the teeth, fingers and 

 tongue have a perfect refemblance, the form of the cranium 

 is the moft important confideration in examining the real 

 affinity of thefe animals, and may ferve as a bans for their 

 generic divifiohs; fince it appears that the fize and convexity 

 of the cranium indicate fenfibility, as the prolongation and 

 fize of the muzzle indicate brutality. 



But what is moft ftriking in the fkull of Wurmb's ape is 

 the exceffive prolongation of the muzzle; and as this muzzle 

 acquires fuch a bulk only at the expence of other neighbour- 

 ing parts, it happens that there ' is no apparent forehead ; 

 that the offeous box which inclofes the brain is very fmall, 

 and that the occipital foramen is fituated in the pofterior 

 part of the head. The muzzle, the fize of which feems to 

 form the principal characlerifing mark of this fpecies, is re- 

 markable not only for the enormous thicknefs of the jaw- 

 bones, but alfo for the extraordinary bulk of the incifive 

 and canine teeth with which it is armed. The incifive ex- 

 ceed in fize thofe of the lionj and the canine, in thatrefpecx, 

 are not much different : fo that, though thefe incifive and 

 canine teeth, except in bulk, have a near refemblance to 

 thofe of other apes, we are tempted to confound the head of 

 the one in queftion with that of the moft carnivorous ani- 

 mals. Another confideration feems in fome manner to fup- 

 port this affinity. The occiput rifes to a point, and forms a 

 pretty large and thick quadrilateral protuberance, from 

 which arii'e three offeous ridges, no lefs apparent and no lefs 

 folid than thofe of the lion : two of thefe ridges proceed in a 

 lateral direction to the auricular apertures, and have from 

 four to five lines of elevation ; another proceeds to the ver- 

 tej, then divides itfelf above the forehead, like that of the • 

 Z % lion. 



