802 



sutures of the premaxillary bones in the 7V. Gorilla beyond the period at which they disap- 

 pear in the 7V. niger, as we do those that cause them to disappear in Man earlier than they 

 do even in the smaller species of Chimpanzee. 



There is not, in fact, any other character than those founded upon the developments of 

 bone for the attachment of muscles, which is known to be subject to change through the 

 operation of external causes : nine-tenths therefore of the differences, especially those very 

 striking ones manifested by the pelvis and pelvic extremities, which have been cited as distin- 

 guishing the great Chimpanzee from the Human species, must stand in contravention of the 

 hypothesis of transmutation and progressive development until the supporters of that hypo- 

 thesis are enabled to adduce the facts and cases which demonstrate the conditions of the 

 modifications of such characters. 



If the consideration of the cranial and dental characters of the Troglodytes Gorilla has led 

 legitimately to the conclusion that it is specifically distinct from the Troglodytes niger, the 

 hiatus is still greater that divides it from the Human species ; between the extremest varieties 

 of which there are no osteological and dental distinctions comparable to those manifested by 

 the longer premaxillaries and larger incisors of the Troglodytes niger as compared with the 

 2V. Gorilla. 



The analogy which the establishment of the second and more formidable species of Chim- 

 panzee in Africa has brought to light between the representation of the genus Troglodytes in 

 that continent and that of the genus Pithecus in the great islands of the Indian Archipelago 

 is very close and interesting. As the Troglodytes Gorilla parallels the Pithecus Wurmlii, so 

 the Troglodytes niger parallels the Pithecus Morio, and an unexpected illustration has thus 

 been gained of the soundness of the interpretation of the specific distinction of that smaller 

 and more anthropoid Orang. 



It is not without interest to observe, that as the generic forms of the Quadrumana approach 

 the Bimanous Order, they are represented by fewer species. The Gibbons (Hylobates) 

 scarcely number more than half-a-dozen species ; Pithecus has but two species, or at most 

 three ; Troglodytes is represented by two species. 



The importance of the question as to the unity of the Human species solved by the con- 

 stancy of those osteological and dental characters to which the attention is more particularly 

 directed in the investigation of the corresponding characters in the higher Quadrumana, and 

 the interest of the comparison, will justify the minuteness with which those characters have 

 here been detailed. 



MAN is the sole species of his Genus, the sole representative of his Order ; he has no 

 nearer physical relations with the brute-kind than those which flow from the characters that 

 link together the unguiculate division of the placental subclass of MAMMALIA. 



Presented by Captain Harris*. 



* This estimable and accomplished Seaman, from whose enlightened endeavours to advance the 

 knowledge of the zoology of Africa most valuable results were expected, perished in a tornado off the 

 west coast of Africa, which swamped the vessel he commanded ; the Council of the College, in con- 

 sideration of the above valuable donation, voted the sum of .50 in aid of a subscription raised by the 

 Merchants and Merchant-service of Bristol for the relief of his Widow and Infant children. 



