Apes. 7 



gibbon is the very spirit and essence of impish 

 activity, bounding about her cage with perfectly 

 marvellous agility and grace, now and then dropping 

 on her two slow-moving companions, to their 

 evident discomposure, and retreating with a bound 

 before they have time to resent the intrusion, 

 which, being much the larger and stronger, they 

 would probably do in an extremely unpleasant 

 manner were they able to catch her. It will 

 be extremely interesting as time goes on to ' 

 watch the education of the young chimpanzees 

 the gibbon, we imagine, will not be seriously 

 taken in hand and to discover which is the most 

 intelligent (Du Chaillu expressed the opinion that 

 the Nshiego was far more docile and intelligent 

 than the chimpanzee) ; at present there appears 

 to be little to choose between them. But the bald- 

 headed chimpanzee is by far the most amiable ; 

 so much so, that while she and the gibbon live 

 amicably together, the common chimpanzee has, 

 except for some hours in the day while the keepers 

 are present, to be confined by herself in part of the 

 cage partitioned off for the purpose. 



The weather that we have experienced since the 

 beginning of the year has been singularly trying 

 for animals born near the Equator, and little 

 wonder could have been felt if the Society's apes 

 had suffered from the fogs and frosts of the last 

 six weeks ; but so far from this being the case, 

 they all appear to be in singularly good health 

 a fact which reflects the greatest credit on all 



