

TO THE LOWER ANIMALS 



275 



It is not necessary to descend lower in the scale than 

 the Orang for conclusive evidence on this head. 



The thumb of the Orang differs more from that of the 

 Gorilla than the thumb of the Gorilla differs from that of 

 Man, not only by its shortness, but by the absence of any 

 special long flexor muscle. The carpus of the Orang, like 

 that of most lower apes, contains nine bones, while in the 

 Gorilla, as in Man and the Chimpanzee, there are only 

 eight. 



Cft. 



Man Crcrilla,^^'' -? Orang 



FIG. 19. Foot of Man, Gorilla, and Orang-Utan of the same absolute 

 length, to show the differences in proportion of each. Letters as 

 in Fig. 18. Reduced from original drawings by Mr. Waterhouse 

 Hawkins. 



The Orang' s foot (Fig. 19) is still more aberrant ; its 

 very long toes and short tarsus, short great toe, short and 

 raised heel, great obliquity of articulation in the leg, and 

 absence of a long flexor tendon to the great toe, separating 

 it far more widely from the foot of the Gorilla than the 

 latter is separated from that of Man. 



But, in some of the lower apes, the hand and foot diverge 

 still more from those of the Gorilla, than they do in the 

 Orang. The thumb ceases to be opposable in the American 

 monkeys; is reduced to a mere rudiment covered by the 



