BLACK ANTHROPOID APES. 



35 



by the point of a slightly projecting nail in 

 the wall of his cage, first carefully examined 

 the part, then sought to remove the projecting 

 point, and afterwards, when he was let out, 

 immediately proceeded to search for the head 

 of the nail on the outside of the wall, and then 

 on finding it began to use his teeth and fingers 

 in making efforts to pull out the nail. Ulti- 

 mately this was done for him with a pair of 

 pincers, whereupon he broke out into lively 

 demonstrations of joy. "He died like a 

 human being, not like a beast," said the 

 physician who attended the chimpanzee in 

 the garden at Hamburg during its last ill- 

 ness. 



On the ground of very slight differences, 

 which may easily be only individual varia- 

 tions, French anatomists had distinguished 

 a second species of black African anthropoid 

 apes, the Chego (Troglodytes Tchego). To 

 this species was assigned a female of only five 

 or six years old, purchased for the Dresden 

 Zoological Gardens in 1873 and kept there 

 till her death, under the name of Mafoka. 

 This individual may have been a hybrid 

 between a gorilla and a chimpanzee. Of 

 the chimpanzee it had the large standing- 

 out ears, the lips and the muzzle, and the 

 narrow hands and feet; of the gorilla, the 

 savage appearance due to the very prominent 

 eyebrows and the broad nose, together with 

 the powerful arms; the legs, perhaps, were 

 somewhat longer and more powerful than in 

 the other two species. The animal had been 

 captured in South Guinea. In its behaviour 

 it was in no way different from a chimpanzee. 



The largest and most powerful of the 

 anthropoid apes is the Gorilla ( Troglodytes 

 gorilla], which in the upright position may 

 attain a height of 5 feet 3 inches, and when 

 sitting appears larger than a human being 

 since its legs are shorter. The body is in 

 fact stronger, the shoulders are broader, the 

 arms shorter than in allied anthropoid apes, 

 the arms reaching only to about the knees. 

 The changes which the animal, especially 



the male, undergoes with years are extra- 

 ordinary. The young gorilla, of which a 

 specimen was brought to Europe by Dr. 

 Falkenstein, so far the most important and 

 indeed almost the sole result of the German 

 expedition under Glissfeld, has a roundish 

 head with a pretty well arched brow, promi- 

 nent orbits, flat nose, large muzzle, very 

 small human-like ears, powerful breast and 

 limbs, and a fat projecting paunch. The 

 thick skin everywhere gathers into broad 

 folds, even on the forehead, so that the 

 expression of the face is somewhat like that 

 of an old meditative negro. In the male 

 much more than in the female, as is excel- 

 lently shown in Plate II., the jaws and the 

 ridges above the eyes are developed in a 

 fearful manner. A high sagittal crest, which 

 gives to the crown and back of the head 

 in the living animal the form of the ridge 

 of a house -roof, runs along the whole 

 length of the skull ; and from it highly 

 prominent lateral ridges run on each side 

 towards the ears. The orbits become enor- 

 mously thick and large, so that the rather 

 small eyes lie deeply sunk in their cavities. 

 The jaws are very prominent, and when 

 opened to the very slightest extent allow us 

 to see the large conical canines which rise 

 far above the summits of the other teeth. 

 The snout is not so round and muzzle-like 

 as in the case of the chimpanzee; the lips, 

 and especially the under lip, not so extensible 

 as in the latter, in which it takes the place of 

 a cheek-pouch. The nape of the neck of the 

 adult gorilla is a genuine bull -neck, the 

 breast is rounded, the belly, though not so 

 plump as in the young, is at least of con- 

 siderable size. The limbs are extremely 

 muscular, the hands and feet most like the 

 corresponding parts in man. The hand is 

 broad, the fingers in about the same propor- 

 tions as those of man, the fore and middle 

 finger united by skin to the first joint. With 

 the exception of the thumb, which is feebly 

 developed, the hand looks like the widely 



