394 Zoological Society : — 



to man, and of the genus Hylobates to the tailed monkeys, are at 

 present unknown in respect of the Dryopithecus. A glance at fig. 5 

 {Gorilla), and fig. 7 {Dryopithecus), of the plate of M. Lartet's 

 memoir, would suffice to teach their difference of bulk, the Gorilla 

 being fully one-third larger. The statement that the parts of the 

 skeleton of the Dryopithecus as yet known, viz. the two branches 

 of the lower jaw and the humerus, " are sufficient to show that in 

 anatomical structure, as well as stature, it came nearer to man than 

 any quadrumanous species, living or fossil, before known to zoolo- 

 gists *," is without the support of any adequate fact, and in contra- 

 vention of most of those to be deduced from M. Lartet's figures of 

 the fossils. Those parts of the Dryopithecus merely show — and the 

 humerus in a striking manner — its nearer approach to the Gibbons ; 

 the most probable conjecture being that it bore to them, in regard 

 to size, the like relations wbich Dr. Lund's Protopithecus bore to 

 the existing Mycetes. Whether, therefore, strata of such high 

 antiquity as the miocene may reveal to us " forms in any degree 

 intermediate between the Cbhnpanzee and man" awaits an answer 

 from discoveries yet to be made ; and the anticipation that the fossil 

 world " may hereafter supply new osteological links between man 

 and the highest known Quadrumanaf' must be kept in abeyance 

 until that world has furnished us with the proofs that a species did 

 formerly exist which came as near to man as does the Orang, the 

 Chimpanzee, or the Gorilla. 



Of the nature and habits of the last-named species, which really 

 offers the nearest approach to man of any known ape, recent or 

 fossil, the author had received many statements from individuals 

 resident at or visitors to the Gaboon, from which he selected the 

 following as most probable, or least questionable. 



Gorilla-land is a richly-wooded extent of the western part of 

 Africa, traversed by the rivers Danger and Gaboon, and extending 

 from the equator to the 10th or 15th degree of south latitude. The 

 part where the Gorilla has been most frequently met with presents a 

 succession of hill and dale, the heights crowned with lofty trees, the 

 valleys covered by coarse grass, with partial scrub or scattered shrubs. 

 Fruit trees of various kinds abound both on the hills and in the 

 valleys ; some that are crude and uncared for by the Negros are 

 sought out and greedily eaten by the Gorillas ; and as different 

 kinds come to maturity at different seasons, they afford the great 

 denizen of the woods a successive and unfailing supply of indigenous 

 fruits. Of these Professor Owen specified the following sources : — 



The palm-nut {Elais guiniensis) of which the Gorillas greatly 

 affect the fruit and upper part of the stipe, called the " cabbage." 

 The Negroes of the Gaboon have a tradition that their forefathers 

 first learnt to eat the " cabbage," from seeing the Gorilla eat it, 

 concluding that what was good for him must be good for man. 



The "ginger-bread tree" (Parinarium excelsum), which bears a 

 plum-like fruit. 



* Lyell (Sir Charles), ' Supplement to the Fifth Edition of Manual of Ele- 

 mentary Geology,' 8vo, 1859, p. 14. t Ibid. 



