728 PRIMATES 



hind talon to the last lower molar; it has been described under 

 the name of Dolichopithecus. 1 



The genus Oreopithecus ~ was founded upon the remains of an 

 Ape from the Middle Miocene of Monte Bamboli, in Tuscany, of 

 somewhat larger size than a Gibbon, and apparently presenting 

 characters connecting the Cercopithecidce and Simiidce. According 

 to Dr. Ristori, 3 it resembles the former, especially Ci/nocephalus and 

 Semnopithecus, in the long dental series and the elongation of the 

 last molars ; but in the shortness of the face, rounding of the chin, 

 and the diagonal arrangement of the molar tubercles, it approximates 

 to the Simiidce, of which it may have been an ancestral type. 



Family SIMIID^E. 



" Crowns of molars relatively wide, with the angles more or 

 less rounded off, the tubercles not forming tranverse ridges, and 

 the last lower molar without a hind talon. No tail. No cheek- 

 pouches. Ischiatic callosities, if present, small. Pectoral limbs 

 much longer than pelvic. Sternum broad. Caecum with vermiform 

 appendage. Centrale of carpus sometimes absent. Other characters 

 as in Cercopitheciclce. 



This family contains the true Anthropoid Old World Apes, 

 namely the Gibbons, Orangs, Chimpanzees, and Gorillas, which 

 are the most highly organised of all the Apes, and thus make the 

 nearest approach to Man. 



Hylobates.* Skull not produced at the vertex ; body and limbs 

 slender, the pectoral limbs being so elongated that the hands reach 

 the ground when walking upright ; hallux well developed ; a centrale 

 in the carpus ; and small ischiatic callosities. Size smaller than in 

 the following genera, the height of the largest species (H. syndadylus) 

 not much exceeding 3 feet. Now confined to Asia. 



The Gibbons, or- Long-armed Apes (Figs. 350, 351), are readily 

 distinguished from the remaining members of the family by the 

 characters given above, as well as by the circumstance that they 

 are the only Apes which habitually walk in an upright position. 

 It is in these animals that we meet with the last traces of the 

 ischial callosities so largely developed in the Cercopithecidce. The 

 species are now restricted to South-Eastern Asia, being especially 

 abundant in the Malay Archipelago and adjacent regions. 



The largest species is the Sumatran Siamang (H. syndadylus), 

 which attains a height of 3 feet, and has been generically 

 separated by some writers as Siamanga. It is remarkable as 



1 Deperet, Comptcs Rendus, vol. cix. p. 982 (1889) ; see also AKm. Soc. Gtol. 

 France, "Palseontologie," vol. i. (1890). 2 Gervais, Cmnptes Rciidus, vol. 



Ixxiv. p. 1217 (1872). 3 Scimmie Fossili Italiane, Boll. Comm. Geol. 1890. 



4 Illiger, Prodromus Syst. Mamm. ct Avium, p. 67 (1811). 



