MAMMALS. 711 



the arms spread to a distance of seven feet nine indies. The result is, that 

 when standing erect, the hands nearly touch the ground. The orang- 

 utan lives in the trees of the forest, making its way from limb to limb in 

 a partially erect position, swinging himself easily from one tree to another 

 by the aid of the interlacing branches. It never jumps, and never seems 

 to hurry, and yet gets along about as fast as a man running on the ground 

 beneath. It makes a nest of branches in the trees, in which it sleeps, 

 not coming; out until the sun has dried the dew from the leaves. It is 

 remarkably strong, and the Dyaks informed Mr. Wallace that it killed the 

 crocodile by main strength, pulling open its jaws and ripping up its throat. 



Mr. Wallace obtained a young orang about a foot in length, which was 

 hanging to its mother when she was shot. He kept it for about three 

 months, and gives a full account of its habits. It was toothless when 

 taken, and was fed w r ith rice-water, no milk being obtainable. It soon 

 came to enjoy its daily bath, and the subsequent wiping and combing of 

 its long hair made it perfectly happy. In order to exercise its muscles, 

 a short ladder was made, and on this the baby was allowed to hang for 

 a quarter of an hour at a time. At first it seemed pleased, but as it could 

 not get all its hands in a comfortable position, it would loose one after 

 the other and drop to the floor. Sometimes when hanging with two hands 

 it would loose one and cross it to the opposite shoulder, grasping its own 

 hair, and as this seemed much more agreeable than the stick, it would 

 attempt it with the other hand ; of course tumbling to the floor, where it 

 would cross both arms and lie perfectly contented. This fondness for fur 

 led to the manufacture of an artificial mother out of skin. This answered 

 for a short time, but then the baby tried to suck and succeeded in filling 

 its mouth with hair, so this had to be given up. While it was kept it cut 

 its two upper front teeth, but the lack of proper food probably led to the 

 attack of intermittent fever which carried it off. 



The chimpanzee and the gorilla are more closely related to each other 

 than is either to the orang-utan. In having shorter arms in proportion to 

 the body they are more like man, as they also are in the mode of articula- 

 tion of the hip-joint and the number of bones in the wrist, while the orang, 

 on the other hand, has the ribs (twelve) the same in number as in man. 

 and the gorilla and chimpanzee have thirteen. In this way various 

 correspondences and differences could be pointed out, but the total would 

 indicate that the two forms last mentioned were nearer to man than is 

 the orang'. Similar comparisons between these two further show that the 

 gorilla excels the chimpanzee in this respect. 



The habits of the chimpanzee are much better known than those of 

 the gorilla, for the reason that many have been kept in confinement ; and 



